Boettgerilla pallens

Boettgerilla pallens, common name the worm slug, is a European species of air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Boettgerillidae.

Boettgerilla pallens
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:
Boettgerillidae
Genus:
Boettgerilla
Species:
B. pallens
Binomial name
Boettgerilla pallens
Synonyms[2]

Boettgerilla vermiformis Wiktor, 1959[3]

Distribution

The type locality of Boettgerilla pallens is Gudauta in Abkhazia.[1][4]

The native distribution of Boettgerilla pallens is believed to be the SW flank of the Caucasus:

Maybe it is also native to Armenia,[4][5] the Crimean Mountains and Donetsk Upland in Ukraine.[6]

But the species has spread spectacularly over the last half century. Dates of first recorded occurrences in various countries are listed in Reise et al. (2000).[7] In Europe, Boettgerilla pallens was first found in 1949 (in Germany).[8] It has now been become naturalized in most of Europe although it has conspicuously not been reported from most of Spain, Italy and the Balkan Peninsula.[7][9] Countries where it occurs include:

Outside Europe it is also known, presumed as an introduction, from:

Description
A 1912 drawing of a preserved specimen of Boettgerilla pallens from the original description by Heinrich Simroth

Boettgerilla pallens is very narrow and slender slug, almost worm-like and sharply keeled.[10] The color is pale greyish or with bluish hue.[10] The head and keel is slightly darker.[10] The mantle is pointed at its posterior end and equipped with fine concentrical grooves.[10] Sole is pale yellow.[10] Mucus is colourless.[10] Juveniles are yellowish to dirty white.[10]

The body length is up to 60 mm.[10] The width is up to 3 mm.[10]

The shell is small, fragile, 1.5–3 x 0.8–1.5 mm, with median nucleus and growth lines, denser in the posterior part, no thin margin, located below the very terminal section of the pointed end of the mantle.[10]

Reproductive system: Penis is elongate and broader than vagina, epiphallus and spermatheca.[10] Epiphallus is swollen and connected to penis laterally near its posterior end, by a long thin duct, which is thinner than vas deferens.[10] Vagina as long as penis and almost as narrow as vas deferens.[10] There are no accessory glands.[10] The spermatheca is elongate and relatively short.[10]

Boettgerilla pallens is much more slender than Milax gagates. The sole is more slender.[10] In Milax gagates the posterior end of the mantle is rounded, its shell is larger and better visible, its colour more yellowish-brownish.[10]

right side view of Boettgerilla pallens

Ecology

Reise et al. (2000)[7] review aspects of the distribution, mode of range expansion, and other aspects of its ecology.

Boettgerilla pallens inhabits a very wide range of habitats, including gardens, grassland, coniferous and deciduous woodland, and is tolerant of a wide range of soil pH, calcium content and water content.[7][31] It lives at altitudes of up to 1750 m in the Caucasus[2] and in Switzerland at up to 1600 m, but usually below 700 m.[14] It can be considered as synanthropic,[2] although it is now often found also in undisturbed habitats.[7]

Although it may often been found under logs and stones, it is predominantly subterranean, adapted to moving through earthworm burrows and similar spaces in soil, 2–20 cm (maximum up to 60 cm) below surface.[32] Snails move rapidly away from bright light sources.[32]

Feeding is seldom intensive: slugs usually take a few bites (of earthworm faeces, detritus etc., also arionid eggs) and move on.[32][33] Although often found in gardens and greenhouses,[31] it has only rarely been considered a pest.[34] One study reports it coming to the surface at night to predate snails.[35]

Mating and egg-laying is during late summer and into autumn in Britain (October in Germany).[32] Eggs are laid 9–27 cm below the surface as several clutches of 1–6 eggs .[32] Adults survive egg-laying but die shortly afterwards.[32] Juveniles hatch after 20–22 days at 17 °C (in Germany),[33] between October and December (in Britain).[32] Juveniles turn colour from white to grey in May–June.[32]

References

This article incorporates public domain text from the reference.[10]

  1. (in German) Simroth H. (1912). "Neue Beiträge zur Kenntnis der kaukasischen Nacktschneckenfauna". St. Petersburg (Russia), 1-140. 10 Plates. 55-58. Table 3, figure 50, table 8, figure 32.
  2. (in Polish) Wiktor A. (1989). Limacoidea et Zonitoidea nuda. Slimaki pomrowioksztaltne (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora). Fauna Poloniae 12, Polska Akademia Nauk, Warszawa, 208 pp., page 137-139.
  3. Wiktor A. (1959). "Boettgerilla vermiformis n. sp. (Mollusca, Pulmonata)". Communication of the Poznań Society of Friends of Science, Department of Mathematical and Natural Sciences, 4.
  4. Kantor Yu I., Vinarski M. V., Schileyko A. A. & Sysoev A. V.(published online on December 22, 2009). "Catalogue of the continental mollusks of Russia and adjacent territories". Version 2.3.
  5. Hausdorf, B. "Boettgerilla pallens Simroth, 1912". Caucasian Land Snails. Universität Hamburg. Archived from the original on 15 December 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  6. Balashov I.A. & Baidashnikov A.A. 2012.The first findings of a slug Boettgerilla pallens (Stylommatophora, Boettgerillidae) in Crimea Ruthenica. 22(2): 111-114.
  7. Reise, H.; Hutchinson, J.M.C.; Forsyth, R.F.; Forsyth, T. (2000). "The ecology and spread of the terrestrial slug Boettgerilla pallens in Europe with reference to its recent discovery in North America". The Veliger. 43: 313–8.
  8. Schmid, G. (1966). "Weiter Funde von Boettgerialla vermiformis". Mitteilungen der Deutschen Malakozoologischen Gesellschaft. 1: 131–136.
  9. Maunder, J.E.; Noseworthy, R.G.; Hutchinson, J.M.C.; Reise, H. (2017). "Terrestrial molluscs of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Part 1: Boettgerillidae". Check List. 13 (4): 277–284. doi:10.15560/13.4.277.
  10. "Species summary for Boettgerilla pallens" Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine. AnimalBase, last modified 28 December 2008, accessed 8 September 2010.
  11. Colville, B.; Lloyd-Evans, L.; Norris, A. (1974). "Boettgerilla pallens Simroth, a new British species". Journal of Conchology. 28 (4): 203–208.
  12. Schmid, G. (1969). "Boettgerilla vermiformis auch in Frankreich und Belgien". Mitteilungen der Deutschen Malakozoologischen Gesellschaft. 2: 20–21.
  13. (in German) Schmid G. (1962). "Boettgerilla vermiformis Wiktor, 1959, eine neue Nacktschnecke in Deutschland (Gastropoda, Parmacellidae)". Archiv für Molluskenkunde 91: 105-108.
  14. Turner, H.; et al. (1998). Fauna Helvetica 2: Atlas der Mollusken der Schweiz und Liechtensteins. Terreaux, Neuchatel: Centre suisse de catographie de la faune.
  15. (in Czech) Hudec V. & Mácha S. (1961). "Pozoruhodný plž z rodu Boettgerilla Simr. na Ostravsku - nový druh pro ČSSR". Přirodovědecký Časopis Slezký 22: 303-310.
  16. Lisický M. J. (1991). Mollusca Slovenska. Veda, Bratislava: 1-341.
  17. Stworzewicz, Ewa. "Boettgerilla pallens Simroth, 1912". Gatunki OBCE w fauni polski. Instytut Ochrony Przyrody. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  18. Valovirta, I.; Nikkinen, A. (1970). "Boettgerilla vermiformis Wiktor (Gastropoda, Parmacellidae) found in Finland". Annales Zoologici Fennici. 7: 188–190.
  19. (in Lithuanian) Šatkauskienė I. (2001). "Naujos šliužu rušies Lietuvoje - Boettgerilla pallens ir retuju Lietuvos sausumos moliusku rušiu apžvalga" [A REVIEW OF RARE LITHUANIAN TERRESTRIAL MALACOFAUNA SPECIES AND THE BOETTGERILLA PALLENS SPECIES NEW TO LITHUANIA]. Ekologija (Vilnius) 2: 56-60. PDF.
  20. Borredà, V.; Martiní-Ortí, A.; Nicolau, J. (2010). Guia de camp dels Mol·luscs d'Andorra. Andorra: Centre d’Estudis de la Neu i de la Muntanya d’Andorra. ISBN 9788497799577.
  21. Hallgass, A.; Vannozzi, A. (2010). "Molluschi continentali alloctoni: dati ed ipotesi sull'introduzione in Italia dal Neolitico ad oggi". Atti del I Convegno del Forum Natura Mediterraneo, Selva di Paliano (FR) 20–21 March 2010. Book Publishers.
  22. Dedov, I.K.; Schneppat, U.E.; Glogger, F.N.; Georgiev, D. (2015). "Boettgerillidae van Goethem 1972: Boettgerilla pallens Simroth 1912 (Mollusca: Gastropoda) – a new family, genus and species for the Bulgarian fauna" (PDF). Ecologica Montenegrina. 3: 64–65.
  23. Bössneck, U. (2017). "Faunistische Notizen zur Molluskenfaua von Island mit Neunachweis einer synanthropen Landschneckenart" (PDF). Mitteilungen der Deutschen Malakozoologischen Gesellschaft. 97: 33–36. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-12-15. Retrieved 2017-12-14.
  24. Wiktor, A. (1994). "Contribution to the knowledge of the slugs of Turkey (Gastropoda terrestria nuda)". Archiv für Molluskenkunde. 123 (1–6): 1–47. doi:10.1127/arch.moll/123/1994/1.
  25. Margry, C.J.P.J. (2014). "First record of Boettgerilla pallens Simroth, 1912 (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Boettgerillidae) on the Canary Islands". Basteria. 78 (4–6): 57.
  26. Catling, P.M.; Kostiuk, B.A. (2020). "Canadian range extension for wormslug (Boettgerilla pallens; Gastropoda: Stylommatophora: Boettgerillidae)". Canadian Field-Naturalist. 132: 264–267. doi:10.22621/cfn.v132i3.1993.
  27. Mc Donnell, R.J.; et al. (2014). "First report of the invasive slug Boettgerilla pallens Simroth, 1912 (Boettgerillidae) in the United States". American Malacological Bulletin. 32 (2): 209–210. doi:10.4003/006.032.0210.
  28. Mc Donnell, R.J.; Vlach, J.J.; Reich, I.; Colton, A.J. (2020). "Boettgerilla pallens Simroth, 1912 (Boettgerillidae): A new invasive slug species in Oregon, U.S.A.". American Malacological Bulletin. 38: 63–65. doi:10.4003/006.038.0106.
  29. Araiza-Gómez, V.; Ruiz, E.A.; Naranjo-García, E.; Zúñiga, G. (2015). "Recent collecting reveals the presence of Boettgerilla pallens (Stylommatophora, Boettgerillidae) in Mexico". American Malacological Bulletin. 33 (2): 1–5. doi:10.4003/006.033.0215.
  30. Hausdorf B. (May 2002). "Introduced land snails and slugs in Colombia". Journal of Molluscan Studies. 68 (2): 127–131. doi:10.1093/mollus/68.2.127. PMID 12011238.
  31. De Wilde, J.J.; Van Goethem, J.L.; Marquet, R. (1983). "Over de verspreiding, de uitbreiding en de oecologie van Boettgerilla pallens Simroth, 1912 in Belgie". Studiedocumenten van Het K.B.I.N., Brussel. 12: 1–31.
  32. Gunn, A. (1992). "The ecology of the introduced slug Boettgerilla pallens (Simroth) in North Wales". Journal of Molluscan Studies. 58 (4): 449–453. doi:10.1093/mollus/58.4.449.
  33. Daxl, R. (1967). "Ein Beitrag zur Biologie von Boettgerilla vermiformis Wiktor 1959". Zeitschrift für angewandte Zoologie. 54: 227–231.
  34. Moolenbeek, R.G. (2002). "Schade door Boettgerilla pallens Simroth, 1912 aan gewassen". Spirula. 326: 56.
  35. Shikov, E.V. (2007). "НОВЫЕ НАХОДКИ НАЗЕМНЫХ МОЛЛЮСКОВ (GASTROPODA, PULMONATA) НА РУССКОЙ РАВНИНЕ" [New finds of terrestrial molluscs (Gastropoda, Pulmonata) on the Russian Plain]. Vestnik TSU. Series: Biology and Ecology (in Russian). 6: 118–122.

Further reading
  • (in German) Schmid G. (1963). "Zur Verbreitung und Anatomie der Gattung Boettgerilla". Archiv für Molluskenkunde 92: 215-225.
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