Occurrence of an invasive slug Limacus flavus (Stylommatophora: Limacidae) in the trees of an urban landscape in Kyiv city (Ukraine), with remarks on its colouration

Abstract

The importance of trees for an invasive Mediterranean cellar slug, Limacus flavus , was studied within one block of a residential area in Kyiv city (Central Ukraine) from spring of 2020 to spring of 2021. Slugs tended to occur in the old poplars ( Populus nigra var. italica ). Live animals or their traces were found on the 71 of 320 poplars and on 17 trees of other species in the studied area. Slugs often go up to at least 12 m above the ground on these poplars and feed on the lichens there. Animals breed and spend the daytime inside at least some of these trees under the bark. Slugs were wintering in some of these trees in 2020-2021 and probably also at least in 2019-2020, while previously L. flavus was reported from Eastern Europe only in connection to cellars, basements and greenhouses. Apparently these slugs are occupying additional habitats in response to climate change and their occurrence in the trees may become common in Eastern Europe with the warming of climate. The colouration of L. flavus and closely related L. maculatus is discussed. Various differences of the colouration were suggested in the literature to distinguish the two species, most notably the central light stripe on the back of L. flavus , but this character is absent in most of the studied specimens and, therefore, the overall colouration overlaps in the studied populations of the two species.