The Three Band Garden Slug

Lehmannia valentiana (A. Férussac 1823)


Three band garden slug (Lehmannia valentiana) from Victoria, Vancouver Island, British
Columbia, Canada. Picture: Kristiina Ovaska, (Slugs and snails of British Columbia).
 

Description: The three band garden slug is more yellowish than its arboreal relative the tree slug (Lehmannia marginata). It shows three bands, of which one on either side of the body and one on the back. The head is coloured slightly more darkly and the dorsal keel is only short. The mucus of this slug species is colourless. From the tree slug, the three band garden slug is easiest distinguished by the morphology of its genital apparatus: Penis appendix and bursa copulatrix are examined, of which both are blunt in Lehmannia valentiana and pointed in Lehmannia marginata (see Organs of the Genital Apparatus).

Dimensions: L: Up to 70 mm.

Habitat and Distribution: The clearest difference between both species is their way of life and the habitat they usually live in. Whereas the tree slug is an arboreal species, living and feeding on trees, the three band garden slug is a ground-living species almost never climbing trees. Also, the three band garden slug's habitat is quite different from that of the tree slug: As its name says, the garden slug lives usually in habitats disturbed my man, such as greenhouses, gardens and nurseries, where it hides below stones, wood and in the humid ground litter.

Originally, the three band garden slug comes from the Iberian peninsula. From there it was probably introduced to Western Italy (Liguria at the French border). The species has been introduced by man, most likely with garden plants and earth, on the British Isles (England, Ireland and the channel island of Jersey), in Central Europe between France and Southern Sweden, on Malta, as well as in Russia. Besides, the three band garden slug has been introduced by man in many parts of the world outside of Europe, such as the USA, where, at least on the west coast, it even sometimes, albeit rarely, appears in forests.

Mollbase: Lehmannia valentiana.
Animal Base: Lehmannia valentiana species homepage.
Terrestrial Mollusc Tool: Lehmannia valentiana.

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