Tropical leatherleaf

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Tropical leatherleaf

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Order:	Pulmonata
Suborder:	Systellommatophora
Family:	Veronicellidae
Genus:	Laevicaulis
Species:	L. alte

Binomial name

Laevicaulis alte
(Férussac, 1822)

Synonyms

Vaginulus alte Ferussac, 1821

The tropical leatherleaf (Laevicaulis alte) is a species of tropical slug. This slug thrives in arid biotopes.

1 Description
2 Ecology
3 Recommended literature
4 External links

[edit] Description

Ventral view of foot of juvenile specimen

L. alte is a round, dark-coloured slug without a shell, 7-8 cm long. Its skin is slightly tuberculed. Keel is beige coloured. It has a unique, very thin foot. Juvenile specimens have a narrow foot only 1 mm wide; bigger specimens have feet 4-5 mm in width. Its tentacles are small, 2-3 mm long. Tentacles are obctruded rarely.

Whole view of constricted specimen. Head is on the right.

[edit] Ecology

Parasites:

Angiostrongylus cantonensis [1]

Predators:

Rana tigrina [2]

Distribution:

indigenous probably in Africa (western Africa and eastern Africa).
non-indigenous:
- southern Asia
- China (Taiwan)
- United States (Hawaii) ([3])
- islands in Indian Ocean
- Australia (since 1889)
- Samoa
- ...

It is invasive species. [4].

Biotope:

Dry biotopes. Lower altitude mostly.

Feed in captivity:

leaves of Dandelion
tomatoes - it niblles skin at first and pulp other day
cucumbers
apples
spinach
in need: dill, leaves of girasole, ...

Feed in nature:

Does not eat:

grapes

Life:

It hatches from eggs.
It has got adaptation for dry conditions: has got rounded shape with as small as possible surface, thin foot and behaviour. Juvenile specimens go for food nearly always at night. It stays buried in soil at day but bigger specimens are crawling at day sometimes. It can grow up from 0,5 cm to approximately 4 cm length in 7 months.