Distribution and habitat
A village home garden near Neluwa in southwestern Sri Lanka, the habitat of Acavus haemastoma (image: D. Raheem, Natural History Museum).
The snails of the genus Acavus are characteristic species of lowland rainforest, but also occur in well-wooded synanthropic habitats, particularly village home gardens.
Acavus superbus is restricted to the northern part of the wet lowlands (elevations up to 1000m) of the southwestern corner of Sri Lanka.
Distribution of the 2 other members of the genus
- A. haemastoma has a range that is adjacent to and largely non-overlapping with A. superbus.
- A. phoenix has a distribution that largely includes and extends well beyond the geographically and climatically narrower ranges of its 2 close relatives.
Distribution of Acavus species in Sri Lanka in relation to natural forest cover (solid, dark grey shading). Acavus superbus = green shading, A. haemastoma = pink shading and A. phoenix = pale grey shading. The wet zone is delimited by the 2500mm isohyet and the 1800mm isohyet separates the intermediate and dry zones. (Source of forest cover and rainfall data: Legg and Jewell, 1992 and 1995)
Toolbox
Glossary
Isohyet
A line on a map connecting geographical points that receive equal rainfall.
Synanthropic
Associated with humans.