[3][4] This species is native to northern Africa and southern Asia,[6] but it has been accidentally introduced in many other tropical and subtropical areas worldwide.

[6] In some places, such as in Israel, the shells are colored in black or dark brown, probably to help conceal the snail on the background of the basalt rocks of the Sea of Galilee (Kinnereth).

[6] Some of these exotic populations have become very large, with densities of 10,000 per square metre (930/sq ft) being reported from the St. Johns River in Florida.

[5] The nonindigenous distribution includes the United States: Arizona; San Francisco Bay, California;[6] Colorado; Florida; Hawai'i; Louisiana;[6] Montana; North Carolina; Nevada; Oregon; Utah;[6] Texas,[6] and Fall River County in South Dakota,[26] (unconfirmed in Virginia, and Wyoming.

[6] This information is helpful in the disinfection of fishing gear and research equipment, which otherwise may inadvertently spread the snails to uninfested waters.

Under good conditions, females will produce fertilised eggs that are transferred to a brood pouch where they remain until they hatch (parthenogenesis and viviparity).

[6] Red-rimmed melanias can sometimes be an agricultural pest species, as has been reported on Chinese cabbage plantations in Hong Kong.

[5] Red-rimmed melanias are quite commonly found in freshwater aquaria, but opinion in the hobby is divided between those who see them as a pest species, and those who value their usefulness as algae-eaters and substrate-cleaners.