Pila (gastropod)
Pila is a genus of large freshwater snails with an operculum, African and Asian apple snails, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the family Ampullariidae, the apple snails.Distribution
Distribution of the genus Pila include Africa, Madagascar, southern Asia and Indo-Pacific islands.Species
Species within the genus Pila include:
subgenus Pila
- Pila africana
- Pila ampullacea - type species
- Pila brohardi
- Pila cecillei
- Pila globosa
- Pila occidentalis
- Pila ovata
- Pila pesmei
- Pila polita
- Pila saxea
- Pila scutata - synonym: Pila conica
- Pila speciosa
- Pila virens
- Pila wernei
subgenus Turbinicola Annandale & Prashad, 1921
subgenus ?
- † Pila busserti Harzhauser & Neubauer, 2017
- † Pila neuberti'' Harzhauser & Neubauer, 2016
Ecology
Pila species are a host of a trematode Multicotyle purvisi.The shells of Pila are used in traditional ethnomedicine for weakness by Saharia people in Rajasthan, India.
Pila ampullacea and Pila pesmei are some of the rice field snail species traditionally eaten in Thailand that have been displaced by the invasive golden apple
snail, Pomacea canaliculata.
