Arion… What?

Will you just look at it?! If this is not a killer slug I don’t know what it is. But – I found information today that explains that what we here in Denmark normally refer to as killer slugs are NOT Arion lusitanicus. So the one in the picture is not Arion lusitanicus. I don’t know the Latin name for it if there is one at all.

Sabine from Aarhus University in Denmark did a study comparing the Red Slug (Arion rufus), Black Slug (Arion ater), Iberian Slug (Arion Lusitanicus) and the species shown in the above picture. I believe her supervisor was Dave Parker.

She found that:

• The Iberian Slug has 24 chromosomes
• The one in the picture, Red Slugs and Black Slugs have 26 chromosomes

She talks about the following studies:

• Quintero et al 2005
• Breugelman et al 2007
• Maristella 2007 (chromosome analysis)

I know three things:

• I don’t know what species the one in the picture is
• I would like to grow food for humans, not slugs. Please.
• The bullet function in Wordpress is great