Malacologica Bohemoslovaca (2022), 21: 63-64
ISSN 1336-6939
The first record of carnivorous semislug Testacella haliotidea
Draparnaud, 1801 in Czechia
Š T Ě P Á N K A P O D R O U Ž K O V Á
National Museum Prague, Department of Zoology, Cirkusová 1740, CZ-193 00 Praha 9 - Horní Počernice, Czechia,
e-mail: stepanka.podrouzkova@nm.cz, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0356-531X
PODROUŽKOVÁ S., 2022: The first record of carnivorous semislug Testacella haliotidea Draparnaud, 1801
in Czechia. - Malacologica Bohemoslovaca, 21: 63-64. https://doi.org/10.5817/MaB2022-21-63
Publication date: 12. 9. 2022.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Public License.
The carnivorous semi-slug Testacella haliotidea (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Testacellidae) was recorded for the first
time in Czechia, Prague. One adult specimen was found in the garden, probably originating from seedlings in the
horticulture centre. Other findings about this species in Czechia are expected.
Key words: shelled slug, non-indigenous species
New records of non-indigenous land snail species have
rapidly increased in Czechia since the 1990s (PELTANOVA
et al. 2012). The most frequent origin is that of the
Mediterranean region, as the fhermophilous terrestrial species
are intensively spreading northwards as a response to
the recent trend of climate change (ROQUES et al. 2009).
As another newcomer, one adult specimen of Testacella
haliotidea was recorded in the author's garden in Prague.
Testacella is the only extant genus of the family Testacellidae,
a small group of semi-slugs with a Euro-Mediterranean-Macaronesian
distribution (RINALDI 2004).
These semi-slugs are carnivorous, feeding on earthworms,
characterized by a shell rudiment at the very end of the
body. Testacella haliotidea (Fig. 1) is 6-12 cm long, with
a triangular shell of about 6-10 mm length. The animal is
greyish yellow or creamy white, foot sole usually whitish.
Originating at the shell, there are 2 lateral grooves on the
back of the semi-slug (Fig. 2) (WELTER-SCHULTES 2012).
From its probable original region in eastern Spain and
southwest France, it has spread to its actual wide distribution.
In non-native regions, the occurrence is largely
confined to gardens and parks. Up to now, Testacella
haliotidea was recorded from the south of Great Britain
( M A R R & SHIPLEY 1904, TAYLOR 2015), Netherlands,
Switzerland, and Germany (DE WINTER & VON NIEULANDE
2011), Italy (RINALDI 2004) or Bulgary (Mrrov & DEDOV
2014). Outside Europe, the semi-slug reached Northern
Africa (BORREDA & MARTINEZ-ORTI 2017), New Zealand
(BARKER 1979), and the United States (CHICHESTER &
GETZ 1973).
This paper reports on the first record of the species in
Czechia, on the 20t h
of May 2022. One adult specimen
was found under a wooden board in the author's private
garden in Prague, Troja (50.1235N, 14.4401E) shortly
after setting vegetable seedlings in the ground. These seedlings
were from a horticultural centre in Veltrusy 20 km
northern from Prague and are the probable source of the
Testacella specimen. An effort was made to find if another
specimen is present, but these animals are nocturnal and
subterranean in habitat, which complicates the situation
and probably makes them under-recorded throughout their
entire range (DE WINTER & VON NIEULANDE 2011). The
animal found in May was killed in efhanol and it is deposited
in National Museum in Prague. Other findings about
the occurrence of this species are anticipated.
Acknowledgments
This work was financially supported by the Ministry of
Culture of the Czech Republic (DKRVO 2019-2023/6.
Il.d, National Museum, 00023272).
References
BARKER G. M . , 1979: The introduced slugs of New Zealand
(Gastropoda: Pulmonata). - New Zealand Journal of Zoology,
6(3), 411-437. https://doi.org/10.1080/03014223.1979.104283
82
BORREDA V. & MARTINEZ-ORTI A., 2017: Contribution to the
knowledge of the terrestrial slugs (Gastropoda, Pulmonata) of
the Maghreb. - Iberus, 35(1): 1-10.
CHICHESTER L. F. & GETZ L. L., 1973: The terrestrial slugs of
northeastern North America. - Sterkiana, 51(2): 11-42.
DE WINTER A. J. & VAN NIEULANDE F. A. D., 2011: Testacella
haliotidea Draparnaud, 1801 in the Netherlands (Gastropoda
Pulmonata, Testacellidae). - Basteria, 75: 11-22.
M A R R J. E. & SHIPLEY A. E. (eds), 1904: Handbook to the natural
history of Cambridgeshire. - University Press, 304 pp. https://
doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title. 18863
Mrrov P. & DEDOV I., 2014: Testacellidae, a Newly-recorded
Family of Semislugs (Gastropoda) for the Bulgarian Fauna. Acta
Zoologica Bulgarica, 66(3): 359-364.
PELTANOVA A., D V O R A K L. & JURICKOVA L., 2012: The spread of
non-native Cepaea nemoralis and Monacha cartusiana (Gastropoda:
Pulmonata) in the Czech Republic with comments
63
on other land snail immigrants. - Biologia, 67(2): 384-389.
https://doi.org/10.2478/sll756-012-0020-2
RINALDI A. C , 2004: New records of Testacella (Gastropoda,
Pulmonata, Testacellidae) from Abruzzo and Sardinia, Italy. Bollettino
Malacologico, 39(9/12): 203-206.
ROQUES A., RABITSCH W . , RASPLUS J. Y . , L O P E Z - V A A M O N D E
C , NENTWIG W. & KENIS M . , 2009: Alien terrestrial invertebrates
of Europe. - In: Handbook of alien species in Europe,
DRAKE J. A . (ed.) Springer Dordrecht, pp. 63-79. https://doi.
org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8280-1 5
TAYLOR S., 2015: The carnivorous shelled slug family Testacellidae
in Essex. - Essex Naturalist (New Series), 32: 235-238.
WELTER-SCHULTES F. W., 2012: European non-marine molluscs,
a guide for species identification. - Planet Poster Editions,
Göttingen, 679 pp. ISBN 978-3-933922-75-5
Fig. 1. Right-side view of Testacella haliotidea. Photo by Štěpánka Podroužková.
Fig. 2. Dorsal view of Testacella haliotidea. Photo by Stepänka Podrouzkovä.
64