Arion hortensis

Native in: W Europe and Scandanavia to W Russia and N Africa (Quick 1960). Synanthropic in central Europe (Wiktor 1983).

Non-native in: North America (Quick 1960).

occurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations

Canada

Origin: Exotic

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

United States

Origin: Exotic

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Global Range: (>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)) It is globally distributed in North America, Europe, and New Zealand but is native to western and southern Europe (Roth and Sadeghian, 2003).

External: Contracted body semicircular in cross-section; dark gray, bluish gray, dark brown or black body, with yellow-brown dots; dark longitudinal line with fuzzy lower edge on each side; sides paler than dorsum; black head and tentacles; fine wrinkles on dorsum; yellow to orange sole; yellow-orange body mucus (Quick 1960; Kerney & Cameron 1979; Wiktor 1983; Herbert 2010).

Internal: Dark ovotestes, yellow-white hermaphrodite duct, light pink-brown spermoviduct, yellow lower atrium with outer glandular layer; long, thin oviduct widens at base; rounded spermatheca with a short, thick duct with a widened base; spermatophore 5-6.5 mm long, variable in shape, and with a hook on its posterior end (Quick 1960).

Eggs: 2.5 x 2 mm, opaque yellow, sticky clusters to 30 eggs (Quick 1960).

Juveniles: 4-5 mm long at hatching, with darker dorsum and mantle than adults (Quick 1960); blue-black body and yellow sole (Wiktor 1983).

25-30 mm long extended (Herbert 2010).

Habitat Type: Terrestrial

Synanthropic, occupying forests, gardens, parks, waste sites, and greenhouses; takes shelter under stones, dead wood, leaf litter, and in the soil (Quick 1960; Wiktor 1983).

Non-Migrant: No. All populations of this species make significant seasonal migrations.

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make local extended movements (generally less than 200 km) at particular times of the year (e.g., to breeding or wintering grounds, to hibernation sites).

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make annual migrations of over 200 km.

Feed on plants, some fungus, (Chichester & Getz 1973), and roots (potato) (Chatfield 1976). Pest of carrot, potato (Quick 1960), berries, leafy crops, and flowers (Wiktor 1983).

The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.

There are 25 barcode sequences available from BOLD and GenBank.  Below is a sequence of the barcode region Cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI or COX1) from a member of the species.  See the BOLD taxonomy browser for more complete information about this specimen and other sequences.

Download FASTA File

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 25
Specimens with Barcodes: 30
Species With Barcodes: 1

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Reasons: It is globally distributed in North America, Europe, and New Zealand but is native to western and southern Europe (Roth and Sadeghian, 2003).

Global Short Term Trend: Relatively stable (=10% change)

Global Long Term Trend: Increase of 10-25% to decline of 30%

Degree of Threat: Low