Fast Recent Expansion of the Spanish Slug (Gastropoda, Stylommatophora, Arionidae) Across Ukraine

Abstract

The Spanish slug, a species that is considered to be the most destructive pest among molluscs of Europe, is reported to spread widely across Ukraine during last 5–7 years. In addition to its 5 known colonies in Western Ukraine, over 60 new localities from Western, Central, Northern, Southern and Eastern Ukraine are reported for the first time using own materials and reports with photo from the general public. Newly reported localities include such major cities as Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Khmelnitsky, Vinnytsia, Ternopil, Zhytomyr, Lutsk, Chernivtsi and Ivano-Frankivsk, and also the settlements in Odesa and Mykolaiv Regions. Species is also reported for the first time from Grodno City in Belarus and from Moscow City in Russia. Much wider future expansion of the Spanish slug in Eastern Europe is expected in near time.

Expansion of the invasive Balkan slug Tandonia kusceri (Stylommatophora: Milacidae): A new frontier in northern Ukraine and other new records

“…Therefore, this species is mainly expanding to regions with a colder and more continental climate compared to its native range. A similar situation is taking place with many other organisms in Europe during the last decades, including several terrestrial slugs, most notably Arion vulgaris Moquin-Tandon, 1855, Limacus flavus (Linnaeus, 1758), Limacus maculatus, Krynickillus melanocephalus and Deroceras caucasicum that all have invaded Kyiv city recently (sverlova et al 2006, son 2010, rowson et al 2014, Balashov 2016, Balashov et al 2018a, turócI et al 2020, Balashov & Markova 2021. The first two of these species originated in Southern Europe and are currently expanding northward and eastward, while the other three species are of Caucasian-Crimean origin and are expanding mostly northward and westward.…”

“…Therefore, each new case of extension in the ranges of such organisms requires attention. About 12 species of terrestrial slugs are expanding their ranges in Eastern Europe, with several being extremely important pests (sverlova et al 2006, son 2010, Balashov & BaIdashnIkov 2012, Balashov 2016, Balashov et al 2018a, gural-sverlova et al 2019, turócI et al 2020, Balashov & Markova 2021. One of these invasive species is Tandonia kusceri (Wagner, 1931) (Milacidae), a large slug (up to 10 cm) originally distributed in the central and northern parts of the Balkan peninsula: in Bulgaria, the European part of Turkey, northern Greece, North Macedonia, southern Serbia and Dobrudzha in eastern Romania (wIktor 1987, 1996, welter-schultes 2012, georgIev & Ivanova 2015, georgIev 2016.…”

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“…An important physiological device allows molluscs to compensate to some extent for the harmful effect of the parasite on their body. Balashov, Khomenko, & Harbar, 2018).…”

Experimental indications of gardeners’ anecdotes that snails interfere with invasive slugs

“…The exact area of origin for A. vulgaris is still not definitely determined ( Pfenninger et al, 2014 ; Zemanova, Knop & Heckel, 2014 ) and a recent study suspects it to be in France and Western Germany ( Zając et al, 2020 ). Over the last decades, however, the slug has spread over large parts of Europe ( Engelke et al, 2011 ; Kozłowski & Kozłowski, 2011 ; Hatteland et al, 2013 ; Papureanu, Reise & Varga, 2014 ; Balashov et al, 2018 ). In Austria, A. vulgaris was first described in 1972 from one lowland region only ( Reischütz & Stojaspal, 1972 ) but nowadays seems to occur in gardens all over the country ( Dörler et al, 2018 ).…”