Apple Snail vs Long-tailed Sylph

Pomacea glauca compared with Aglaiocercus kingii

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Apple Snail	Long-tailed Sylph
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Mollusca (Mollusks)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Gastropoda (Gastropoda)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Architaenioglossa (Architaenioglossa)	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)
Family	Ampullariidae	Trochilidae
Genus	Pomacea	Aglaiocercus
Species	Pomacea glauca	Aglaiocercus kingii

Evolutionary Relationship

Apple Snail and Long-tailed Sylph share a common ancestor at the Kingdom level: Animalia. (Animals)

Conservation Status

Apple Snail

LC — Least Concern

Long-tailed Sylph

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Apple Snail	Long-tailed Sylph
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Apple Snail

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, and tropical and subtropical coniferous forests, among 4 distinct biome types within the Neotropic biogeographic realm.

Range

Distributed across Dominican Republic, Norway, and Venezuela.

Long-tailed Sylph

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, Norway, and Venezuela.

Apple Snail

The Apple Snail (Pomacea glauca) is a species in the genus Pomacea. It is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, and tropical and subtropical coniferous forests, among 4 distinct biome types within the Neotrop.

Long-tailed Sylph

One of the most strikingly ornamented hummingbirds, male long-tailed sylphs have iridescent green plumage and dramatically elongated, ribbon-like outer tail feathers reaching up to 22 cm — over three times the body length. Found in Andean cloud forests of Colombia and Venezuela, they inhabit humid montane forest between 1,400–2,800 meters elevation. Males perform elaborate display flights to attract females. Their extravagant tails are a classic example of sexual selection via female preference.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 2 countries:

🇳🇴 Norway 🇻🇪 Venezuela