The distribution of Deroceras laeve was originally Palearctic, from the subpolar zones to the southern margins.[3] Today this slug species has been introduced worldwide except Antarctica, also on tropical islands such as New Guinea and on Pacific islands.[3]
Europe:
British Isles: Great Britain and Ireland. The species has shown little evidence for significant decline in Britain.[3]
The slug is from brown to dark brown, usually with dark and characteristic but not well visible spots arranged in groups.[3] The shape is almost cylindrical, posterior end is abruptly widened. The mantle covers 50% of body length (unusually large). There are wrinkles on skin present (may disappear in preserved slugs). Mucus is thin, colourless.[3]
Drawing of the reproductive system of Deroceras laeve a - atrium v - vagina p - penis mr - musculus retractor penis bc - bursa copulatrix.
Reproductive system:[3] Penis is often reduced, elongated if present, without proper penial gland but with two or more tiny glandular papillae and its end. Retractor is unforked and attached at half penis length, stimulator small, cone-shaped but looks more like a papilla. Tubular oviductus and atrium are unusually long. There is no rectal caecum.[3]
Deroceras laeve has high ecological tolerance, but needs permanently wet habitats.[3] It is usually found in lowlands and very humid habitats, swamps, riversides, wetlands, especially alder and oak woods, marshlands and degraded areas, also greenhouses, often near water under wood or detritus.[3] It tolerates subpolar and tropical temperatures.[3] Newly created habitats are often colonized after a few years.[3] In Switzerland in up to 1800 m altitude, but usually below 1000 m, in Bulgaria in up to 2500 m.[3]
It is the only land gastropod that goes deliberately into the water and can survive for days submerged.[3] Because of this unusual behavior, the species can be dispersed by flowing water.[3]
The eggs of this species can also survive when submerged; juveniles can hatch underwater and then climb to the surface.[3]
The life cycle is extremely short, and can take place within less than a month.[3] This species can have up to 5 generations in a year,[3] with several generations alive at the same time.[3] Frequently there are forms with a reduced penis, which reproduce by self-fertilisation.[3] The maximum age of this slug is not more than 1 year.[3]
This article incorporates public domain text from the reference [3]
^Müller O. F. (1774). Vermivm terrestrium et fluviatilium, seu animalium infusoriorum, helminthicorum, et testaceorum, non marinorum, succincta historia. Volumen alterum. pp. I-XXXVI [= 1-36], 1-214, [1-10]. Havniæ & Lipsiæ. (Heineck & Faber).
^ ab(in Czech) Horsák M., Juřičková L., Beran L., Čejka T. & Dvořák L. (2010). "Komentovaný seznam měkkýšů zjištěných ve volné přírodě České a Slovenské republiky. [Annotated list of mollusc species recorded outdoors in the Czech and Slovak Republics]". Malacologica Bohemoslovaca, Suppl. 1: 1-37. PDF.
^Juřičková L, Horsák M, Beran L (2001). "Check-list of the molluscs (Mollusca) of the Czech Republic". Acta Soc. Zool. Bohem. 65: 25–40.
^K. T. Shao (ed.). "Deroceras laeve (Müller, 1774)". Catalogue of life in Taiwan. Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taiwan. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
^Fox, Lee; Landis, B. J. (1 April 1973). "Notes on the Predaceous Habits of the Gray Field Slug, Deroceras laeve". Environmental Entomology. 2 (2): 306–307. doi:10.1093/ee/2.2.306.
Media related to Deroceras laeve at Wikimedia Commons
