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Arion Lusitanicus

Arion Lusitanicus - the most common slug is the garden slug. It's grey or brown and only 4cm (1.5in) long. It slithers around your garden on an orange sole. Another slug you may may well meet is the field slug ('Derocerus reticulatum'). This one is different from the garden slug because it has distinct brown patches on it's sides. Both slugs are bad news for your tender plants and vegetables. Arion lusitanicus, common name Portuguese slug, is a species of air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Arionidae. Arion lusitanicus is native to woody areas on Portugal. It is a rather large slug of reddish brown color. The more well known Spanish slug was for a time misidentified as Arion lusitanicus, but the two slugs are not very closely related, differing in internal anatomy, shape of spermatophore and number of chromosomes.

In the years 1997-1999, studies on the intensity of the slug Arion lusitanicus occurring in different microhabitats were carried out on the territory of Podkarpackie province. Observations were performed in the environments of vegetable gardens, arable fields and non-crop areas. The intensity of the slug occurrence varied greatly in arable crops of different plant species and in other microhabitats. Vegetable crops and areas adjacent to them were inhabited by the slug most numerously. Considerably less slugs occurred in agricultural plant crops.

Weeds as a food
Susceptibility of 30 weed species to A. lusitanicus feeding was evaluated under natural conditions in two successive vegetation seasons (1997-1998). Observations were conducted on the number and degree of plant injuries, and as a result 13 weed species were found to be most frequently and most heavily injured. Food preference of slugs for 10 selected weed species and 8 cultivated plant species was determined under laboratory conditions. It was found that the most frequently and most seriously damaged under field conditions was Aegopodium podagraria L. - this and other weeds can be an alternative food for the slug. A comparison of the number of seedlings of the studied species eaten showed a high susceptibility of Galinsoga parviflora Cav., Brassica napus L. and Helianthus annuus L. to slug feeding.