~ 254 ~  Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 2015; 3(4): 254-259 E-ISSN: 2320-7078 P-ISSN: 2349-6800 JEZS 2015; 3(4): 254-259 © 2015 JEZS Received: 21-06-2015 Accepted: 24-07-2015 Arfan Ahmed Gilal A) Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. B) Department of Entomology, Faculty of Crop Protection, Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam, Sindh, Pakistan. Rita Muhamad Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. Dzolkhifli Omar Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. Nor Azwady Abdul Aziz Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. Manjeri Gnanasegaram Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. Correspondence: Rita Muhamad Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. Effectiveness of an automated digital infrared CCTV multi-camera system in investigating mating and oviposition behavior of apple snails, Pomacea spp. Arfan Ahmed Gilal, Rita Muhamad, Dzolkhifli Omar, Nor Azwady Abdul Aziz, Manjeri Gnanasegaram Abstract Pomacea canaliculata and Pomacea maculata attack rice growing areas with significant yield losses. Their success rate is mainly due to their high reproductive potential. This study aimed to investigate the reproductive potential of both Pomacea spp. using a digital infrared CCTV video camera system to ensure data accuracy by recording uninterrupted behavioral activities. Results of the study confirmed efficiency of digital infrared CCTV camera system used in recording and acquiring behavioral data with further potential for wide scale usage in future studies. Moreover, mating and oviposition in both species mostly occurred during night hours. Pomacea maculata showed higher mating frequency, oviposition duration and eggs per clutch, whereas egg diameter was higher in P. canaliculata. No difference was observed in other mating and oviposition parameters. Accordingly, higher reproductive potential of P. maculata as compared P. canaliculata could be one of the reasons for its large scale distribution in Peninsular Malaysia. Keywords: Pomacea, invasive, mating, oviposition, Infrared digital camera system, apple snail. 1. Introduction Exotic apple snails, Pomacea canaliculata and Pomacea maculata are the two most successful invaders of rice and other aquatic habitats in Southeast Asia and USA with the former being more widely distributed [1, 2, 3] . Their large scale negative impacts and invasive potential on the environment, human health and field crops necessitated the solid efforts to restrict their further spread [4, 5] . The invasiveness of these apple snails are based on their voracious feeding, long life span, high fecundity and high tolerance to environmental stresses [3, 6] . It is recognized that the invasiveness of exotic species, especially mollusks in new areas is very much dependent on their higher fecundity potential [7, 8] . This is clearly demonstrated in Pomacea spp. as the eggs are laid above the water surface to avoid the risk of siltation and aquatic predators. In addition, female Pomacea spp. has the capability to store sperm for longer duration to withstand the lower population densities at any later stage [9, 10, 11, 12] . Considering the importance of high reproductive potential for the invasiveness of the apple snails, many studies have been conducted on the reproductive potential of P. canaliculata [9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16] , but specific studies are still lacking on the reproductive potential of P. maculata and if done, are very scarce [6, 17] . Studies also lacks on the comparative mating and oviposition behavior of the two invasive species under the same experimental conditions to estimate the invasiveness of individual species except [15] . Moreover, all the research conducted to date on the mating behavior of invasive Pomacea spp. was mostly based on direct observations which lacks continuous monitoring and may create ambiguity in the data obtained. However, digital video cameras have been widely used for many behavioral studies of other invertebrates, especially insects [18] , fish [19] and even in other mollusks [20, 21] . All such camera systems get variable success to achieve research objectives but the cost of the system remained a major constraint for their practical implication. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to study the relative characteristics of mating and oviposition of P. maculata and P. canaliculata to ascertain the basis of their invasiveness regarding high reproductive potential by using low cost digital CCTV infrared video camera system. The CCTV system was installed for the continuous recording of all the behavioral activities of the snails regarding their mating to avoid any bias. The results obtained from this