UPDATE: The snail we saw is NOT a Giant African Land Snail, but the banded tree snail - a beneficial local species

Good news. Not a Giant African Land Snail - its a beneficial snail, the Orthalicus floridensis, the banded tree snail- response from the Helpline Supervisor from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

This is an update on the Photo of the day / sighting from Sunday, 8/4/2014 - "is this the invasive Giant African Land Snail? Found Sun 8/3/14 on the edge of Palmetto Bay / Cutler Bay" (post immediately below. 

The full e-mail posted below.  Thank you for getting responding so quickly!

On Aug 4, 2014, at 10:41 AM, DPIHelpline <DPIHelpline@freshfromflorida.com> wrote:
 
Eugene,

That is not the giant African land snail, it's the Orthalicus floridensis, the banded tree snail.  It is the largest native land snail and is beneficial by cleaning trees.  It can get up to around 2.5 inches. 
 
Here is a link to our website that has a snail ID sheet, which you may find helpful:
 http://www.freshfromflorida.com/content/download/23825/485859/snail-id-sheet.pdf

Thank you for your concern and willingness to help FDACS with our efforts to locate and control the giant African land snail.  If you see any other suspect looking snails, please feel free to send in more photos or contact our helpline at 1-888-397-1517.
 
Sincerely,
Katie

Kathryn C. Shepard
Public Information Specialist II / Helpline Supervisor
Division of Plant Industry
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services 
(352) 395-4604
1-888-397-1517 Helpline
Kathryn.Shepard@FreshFromFlorida.com
PO Box 147100
Gainesville, FL 32614-7100