Bagging the Brady Bunch
Bush snails in the top row are
the Bradybaena similaris from
Alice Springs, Northern Territory
(NTM P.36330) and the one on
the bottom is the Bradybaena sp.,
(NTM P.43253). Photo courtesy of
Museum and Art Gallery, Northern Territory.
The Brady Bunch came to Australia recently but wasn’t allowed in.
Well, it wasn’t the Brady Bunch family known on television, but it was a live Bradybaena sp. land snail (Mollusca: Pulmonata: family Bradybaenidae) intercepted by AQIS officer Pat Goda in a consignment of plastic erosion matting from China.
As well as the exotic Bradybaena sp., commonly known as the bush snail, there was such a high concentration of dead and live insects inside the eight containers that they were fumigated for longer than usual.
The offending snail was identified by Dr Richard Willan, Senior Curator, Molluscs, Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory, who advised it could survive in northern Australia and is potentially an agricultural and environmental pest.
Another species of the genus Bradybaena (B. similaris) was introduced into Australia some time ago and is now a widespread agricultural pest.
AQIS officers are accustomed to searching for giant African snails in cargo but are also always on the lookout for the snails’ smaller, but no less damaging, cousins.
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