Tropical leatherleaf

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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, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk. This slug thrives in arid biotopes.

1 Description
2 Parasites
3 Predators
4 Distribution
5 Recommended literature
6 References

[edit] Description

Laevicaulis alte is a round, dark-coloured slug without a shell, 7 or 8 cm long. Its skin is slightly tuberculated. The central keel is beige in colour. This slug has a unique, very narrow foot; juvenile specimens have a foot 1 mm wide and adult specimens have feet 4 or 5 mm in width. The tentacles are small, 2 or 3 mm long, and they are only rarely obtruded beyond the edge of the mantle.

View of contracted specimen. The anterior end is to the right.

[edit] Parasites

Parasites:

Angiostrongylus cantonensis [1]

[edit] Predators

The frog Rana tigrina [2]

[edit] Distribution

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

It is an invasive species. [4].

Biotope:

Dry biotopes. Lower altitude mostly.

Ventral view of foot of juvenile specimen

Food items in captivity:

leaves of Dandelion
tomatoes - it nibbles skin at first and the pulp later
cucumbers
apples
spinach
in need: dill, leaves of girasole, ...

Food sources in nature:

unknown

Does not eat:

grapes

Life:

Hatches from eggs.
Has several adaptations for dry conditions: rounded shape with as small as possible surface area, narrow foot to reduce evaporation. Juvenile specimens search for food nearly always at night and stay buried in the soil during the day. Larger specimens are active during the day sometimes. This slug can grow up from 0.5 cm to approximately 4 cm in length in 7 months.