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Species of gastropod From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Deroceras reticulatum, common names the "grey field slug", "grey garden slug", and "milky slug", is a species of small air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Agriolimacidae. This species is an important agricultural pest.
| Deroceras reticulatum | |
|---|---|
| |
| Adult Deroceras reticulatum | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Order: | Stylommatophora |
| Family: | Agriolimacidae |
| Genus: | Deroceras |
| Species: | D. reticulatum |
| Binomial name | |
| Deroceras reticulatum (O. F. Müller, 1774)[1] | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
|
Agriolimax reticulatus (Müller, 1774) Limax reticulatus Müller, 1774 | |
Deroceras reticulatum is native to Europe, North Africa and the Atlantic Islands.[2][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.[2] In the north and central European lowlands, Great Britain, and Ireland, it is probably the most widely occurring slug.[2] In northern Scandinavia it is scarce, and is mainly found as a synanthrope.[2]
This species occurs in countries and islands including:
The species has been widely introduced as a synanthrope to many regions:
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).[2] Behind the mantle there is the dark spots form a reticulate pattern.[2] The skin is thick.[2] Mucus is colourless, on irritation milky white.[2] The slug cannot be distinguished from many other Deroceras species based only on its external appearance.[2]
This slug can be up to 40–60 mm long (preserved 25–30 mm).[2] The size varies according to the habitat.[2]
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.[2] Penial gland has very variable shape, usually a few branches or a single long branch.[2] Stimulator is large, conical and narrow.[2] Retractor of the penis is inserted laterally.[2] Vas deferens opens into penis wall facing the external body side.[2] Rectal caecum is large.[2]
This slug can travel up to 40 feet (12.2 m) in one night.[11]
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.[2] 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.[3] It shelters under stones and ground litter (It does not burrow into the soil).[2] It is active at night.[2]
This species is omnivorous, feeding mainly on fresh leaves and fruits or seedings.[2] Deroceras reticulatum is a serious pest of agricultural crops, garden cultivations[2] and horticulture.[11] After several years with continuous moist weather conditions abundance can seriously increase.[2]
Life cycle covers a few months, usually two generations.[2] The main reproductive phase is in summer and autumn.[2] It lays hundreds of eggs which hatch during early summer.[11]
Maximum age is about a year.[2] Slugs die at the first frosts.[2] Usually only eggs hibernate, sometimes also juveniles.[2]
Various carabid beetles are predators of Deroceras reticlatum, including:
The bacterium Moraxella osloensis is a mutualistic symbiont of the slug-parasitic nematode Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita.[13] 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.[13]
Deroceras reticulatum can transfer Escherichia coli on its body surface.[14]
Parasites of Deroceras reticulatum include:
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