Exotic invasive Pomacea maculata (Giant Apple Snail) will depredate eggs of frog and toad species of the Southeastern US

Pomacea maculata (Perry) (Giant Apple Snail) is a freshwater snail native to South America (Hayes et al. 2015) that is an invasive species in the freshwater wetlands and waterways of the northern Gulf of Mexico, peninsular Florida (Benson 2017, Burks 2017) and globally (Hayes et al. 2015). Karraker and Dudgeon (2014) found that Pomacea canaliculata (Lamarck) (Channeled Apple Snail) opportunistically ate frog eggs. The Giant Apple Snail is a sister species to the Channeled Apple Snail and shares similar life-history attributes (Hayes et al. 2015). However, the literature indicates that Giant Apple Snail is presumed to be an herbivore (e.g., Burke et al. 2017, Burlakova et al. 2009). Will Giant Apple Snail eat amphibian eggs? If they do, they could have a negative impact on anuran populations throughout their introduced range. In this study, we presented Giant Apple Snails with frog and toad eggs to determine if they would eat them.