Channeled apple snail (Pomacea canaliculata)

Keong mas or channeled apple snail (Pomacea canaliculata) is a species of animal in the Ampullariidae, freshwater snails, large, round shells with brown or black or yellow or albino colors and highly variable band patterns.

P. canaliculata has a shell with a length of up to 15 cm, the threads have four levels with a pointed tip. Most are brown or yellow and some are black or white.

Keong mas live in clear freshwater habitats including rivers, ponds, swamps and rice fields. The eggs are pink and are laid on grass and other vegetation that grows along bodies of water.

The channeled apple snail is highly polyphagous and feeds on floating and sinking plants, detrital, and animal matter. Diets may vary according to age with younger and smaller individuals eating algae and detritus, while older individuals turning to taller plants.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Architaenioglossa
Superfamily: Ampullarioidea
Family: Ampullariidae
Subfamily: Pomaceinae
Genus: Pomacea
Species: Pomacea canaliculata

Thomas Sutikna lives with Homo floresiensis

BLOG - On October 28, 2004, a paper was published in Nature describing the dwarf hominin we know today as Homo floresiensis that has shocked the world. The report changed the geographical landscape of early humans that previously stated that the Pleistocene Asia was only represented by two species, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens . The report titled "A new small-bodied hominin from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia" written by Peter Brown and Mike J. Morwood from the University of New England with Thomas Sutikna, Raden Pandji Soejono, Jatmiko, E. Wahyu Saptomo and Rokus Awe Due from the National Archaeology Research Institute (ARKENAS), Indonesia, presents more diversity in the genus Homo. “Immediately, my fever vanished. I couldn’t sleep well that night. I couldn’t wait for sunrise. In the early morning we went to the site, and when we arrived in the cave, I didn’t say a thing because both my mind and heart couldn’t handle this incredible moment. I just went down...

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