The Cambodia Land Snail (Amphidromus atricallosus classiarius) is a tropical, air-breathing invertebrate gastropod mollusc in the Camaenidae family of arboreal (tree-living) pulmonate land snails. An invertebrate does not have a backbone and gastropod means stomach-footed. 

The Cambodia Land Snail can be varied in colour, often quite colourful but a few species can be dark, with a smooth shell that can be thin and fragile or heavy and solid. Different species have different colours, and can have varied number of whorls, and the direction of the way its shell spirals. It can be dextral shell-coiling (right-handed) or sinistral shell-coiling (left-coiling). The photographed snail is sinistral with a heavy shell. It has 6-8 pale-coloured whorls. It has a large aperture. Its ‘foot’ (soft body) is brown.

Its shell is relatively large, ranging from 2.5-8 centimetres (1-3 inches) in length. 

It is native to south-east Asian countries, such as Myanmar (Burma), Malay Peninsula, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. It prefers to live on trees or shrubs.

The Cambodia Land Snail feeds on fungi, lichens, or terrestrial (land) algae. Its predators include birds, snakes, and small mammals.

It is hermaphroditic, which means that it is both male and female. It lays about 40-65 eggs, which hatch after 10-28 days. The eggs are deposited in a leaf, usually of young bamboo, and usually in the rainy season. 

The Cambodia Land Snail lives for about 5-20 years. 

Location of photographs: Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Photographer: Martina Nicolls

Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM