Abundance and Diversity of Land Snails in K'laja Karst, Barangay Conel, General Santos, City

This study aimed to establish the Abundance and Diversity of land snails in K'laja Karst, Barangay Conel, General Santos City. The samples collected were hand- searched extensively between Mt. Dungon and Amsikong falls area. The study has listed a total of 67 individuals represented by five species belonging to five genera, two Orders, and three families. They belong to order Stylommatophora and order Architaenioglossa. All of the collected snails are represented by three families, these are Achatinidae, Cyclophoridae, and Camaenidae. Under two Families of collected species belong to the air-breathing pulmonate group except for the Leptopoma perlucidum (in Family Cyclophoridae). The Family Cyclophoridae have three species; these are Cyclophorus linguiferus, Cyclophorus leucostoma, Leptopoma perlucidum. Family Achatinidae has one specie, Achatina fulica. And under Family Camaenidae has also one specie, Calocochlia sp. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) listed A. fulica as one of the 100 most invasive species (Lowe et al., 2000). C. linguiferus is relatively the most abundant species representing (37.31%) of the total number of individuals collected. It is followed by the Giant African snail A. fulica. Followed by the C. leucostoma, L. perlucidium and Calocohlia sp has a least number of individual. The fewer species collected may indicate the species are undergoing some ecological pressure that affects their population abundance and distribution.