Deroceras reticulatum

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Deroceras reticulatum
File:Deroceras reticulatum.JPG
adult Deroceras reticulatum
NE[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Heterobranchia
clade Euthyneura
clade Panpulmonata
clade Eupulmonata
clade Stylommatophora
informal group Sigmurethra
clade limacoid clade
Superfamily:
Limacoidea
Family:
Agriolimacidae
Genus:
Deroceras
Species:
D. reticulatum
Binomial name
Deroceras reticulatum
Synonyms[3]

Limax reticulatus Müller, 1774

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Deroceras reticulatum, common names the "grey field slug" and "grey garden slug", is a species of small air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Agriolimacidae. This species is an important agricultural pest.

Distribution

The native distribution of this slug species is European.[4] It is native to Europe, North Africa and the Atlantic Islands.[3] It occurs widely in Europe, but is more rare and restricted to cultivated fields in the southeast, particularly in the Balkans, and is probably absent from Greece and the Bulgarian mountains.[3] In the north and central European lowlands, Great Britain, and Ireland, it is probably the most widely occurring slug.[3] In northern Scandinavia it is scarce, and is mainly found as a synanthrope.[3]

This species occurs in countries and islands including:

The species has been widely introduced as a synanthrope to many regions:

Description

File:Deroceras reticulatum reproductive system.png
Drawing of the reproductive system of Deroceras reticulatum.
a - atrium
p - penis
s - stimulator
mr - musculus retractor penis
gp - glandula penis
bc - bursa copulatrix
ov - oviductus.
File:Deroceras reticulatum 3.png
Deroceras reticulatum

As all other Deroceras it has a short keel at the back of the body. Deroceras reticulatum is very variable in colour, creamy or light coffee cream, rarely blackish spotted (slugs with spots may appear blackish).[3] Behind the mantle there is the dark spots form a reticulate pattern.[3] The skin is thick.[3] Mucus is colourless, on irritation milky white.[3] The slug cannot be distinguished from many other Deroceras species based only on its external appearance.[3]

This slug can be up to 40–60 mm long (preserved 25–30 mm).[3] The size varies according to the habitat.[3]

Reproductive system: Penis is fleshy and with a silky sheen, in the shape of an irregular sac, in fully mature specimens divided into 2 parts by a deep lateral constriction.[3] Penial gland has very variable shape, usually a few branches or a single long branch.[3] Stimulator is large, conical and narrow.[3] Retractor of the penis is inserted laterally.[3] Vas deferens opens into penis wall facing the external body side.[3] Rectal caecum is large.[3]

This slug can travel up to 40 feet (12.2 m) in one night.[12]

Ecology

Habitat

Deroceras reticulatum is almost exclusively restricted to cultivated areas, usually in open habitats, in meadows, near roadsides, in ruins, gardens and parks, not inside forests.[3] External appearance is very similar to Deroceras rodnae, Deroceras praecox and the internal anatomy is very similar to Deroceras turcicum, but those three species lives in natural habitats - in woods - and they co-occur with Deroceras reticulatum very rarely.[4] It shelters under stones and ground litter (It does not burrow into the soil).[3] It is active at night.[3]

Feeding habits

This species is omnivorous, feeding mainly on fresh leaves and fruits or seedings.[3] Deroceras reticulatum is a serious pest of agricultural crops, garden cultivations[3] and horticulture.[12] After several years with continuous moist weather conditions abundance can seriously increase.[3]

Life cycle

File:Deroceras reticulatum 4.png
A mating pair of Deroceras reticulatum

Life cycle covers a few months, usually two generations.[3] The main reproductive phase is in summer and autumn.[3] It lays hundreds of eggs which hatch during early summer.[12]

Maximum age is about a year.[3] Slugs die at the first frosts.[3] Usually only eggs hibernate, sometimes also juveniles.[3]

File:Nebria brevicollis01.jpg
Nebria brevicollis, and numerous other kinds of carabid beetles, feed on this slug species

Predators

Various carabid beetles are predators of Deroceras reticlatum, including:

Parasites

The bacterium Moraxella osloensis is a mutualistic symbiont of the slug-parasitic nematode Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita.[14] In nature, Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita vectors Moraxella osloensis into the shell cavity of the slug host Deroceras reticulatum in which the bacteria multiply and kill the slug.[14]

Deroceras reticulatum can transfer Escherichia coli on its body surface.[15]

Parasites of Deroceras reticulatum include:

References

This article incorporates CC-BY-2.0 text from the reference [14] and public domain text from the reference.[3]

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  • Spencer, H.G., Marshall, B.A. & Willan, R.C. (2009). Checklist of New Zealand living Mollusca. Pp 196-219 in Gordon, D.P. (ed.) New Zealand inventory of biodiversity. Volume one. Kingdom Animalia: Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia. Canterbury University Press, Christchurch

External links

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