Thursday, February 23, 2017

Skye - Slugging it Out

Spent most of the afternoon out and about looking for slugs and snails to photograph. I've started a new Gallery on my blog entitled Molluscs and figured I better try for a few half-decent pics. No such luck, they're still shite but better than nothing! Here's a couple for you

Deroceras reticulatum - common in NG3963
Possibly Arion hortensis, which would be new for Skye
Naturally I found other stuff hiding away beneath stones and half-buried plastic sheeting, I also found a couple of terrestrial flatworms and a land nemertine.

Kontikia andersoni (left) and Microplana terrestris (right)
Despite being such a gaudy looking creature, Kontikia andersoni is doubtless under-recorded in Britain, in fact it seems that this may be the first Scottish record! This one was about a centimetre long, the Microplana terrestris elongated itself to maybe 2cm in length which I've never seen them do before. I did wonder if it was actually Rhynchodemus sylvaticus, but the movements and eye placement were wrong. 

Note the trail of yellow stuff in front of it.....?
I found this land nemertine on a bit of moss-covered debris in long grass, a tiny wee thing. I wasn't sure if it was another flatworm or not and then it did something quite incredible - the long yellow thing lashed out from its head, blindly waved and flickered around a few times (imagine a hummingbird's tongue rapidly probing a deep flowerhead!) and seemed to drop off! What the..??? It was all so fast it was amazing, I'm lucky to have been watching at that precise instant. I tried to pot the tiny beast but incredibly it just fell to pieces in a sloppy mess! Buggered if I know what's going on, but all that was left were gobbets of slimy body pieces that I wiped off on my jeans! If anybody knows the species I'd be happy to hear your thoughts. I'm guessing it's an Argonemertes sp but that's as far as I can get. At a guess. 

Additions to the NG3963 tally for 2017 are

352 - Arion hortensis (slug) *to be confirmed*
353 - Arion circumscriptus silvaticus (slug)
354 - Arion intermedius (slug)
355 - Petrobius maritimus (bristletail)
356 - Kontikia andersoni (terrestrial flatworm)
357 - Cleavers (plant)
358 - Pogonognathellus longicornis (springtail)


  1. I had a similar coloured Argonemertes to yours back a couple of months ago, found on a flood plain at Ogmore-by-sea. Mine also autodigested itself before i could get it checked. They ain't to fussed on being handled. :(

    Recent Bar-coding as shown that some of these terrestrial nemerteans that we have in Britain are actually different species. So its Argonemertes sp. (cf. A. australiensis) and Argonemertes sp. (cf. A dendyi) for the time being until a taxonomist decides to take them on.

    Worth potting one up and getting one down to Hugh. Apparently there's an 18 month waiting list to get things Bar-coded, so may be a bit of a wait before you get an answer?

    1. Who's Hugh? (sounds like the name of a bad TV gameshow) and I thought you had to pay serious cash to get things barcoded?

    2. Sorry about that Seth, a bit vague on my part. Hugh Jones, he's the expert on flatworms etc.

      I see on Facebook you've now got his email. :)

    3. I'm sure its down to about £15 a sample/plate? But it probably depends on where it goes. I send a lot of specimens off to Jeorg Spelda (Bavaria) who then process them (plates them) and sends them off to Canada to be Bar-coded. While i'm sure Ben Rowson gets them done at a local hospital and does the work himself?

  2. Really interesting Arion. Lateral bands look right for hortensis, but I'm pretty sure that the pale yellow dots of pigment rule hortensis out! Dissection time?

    1. Hmmmm, not too sure the hotel's head chef here will appreciate me popping slugs into one of his freezers. Might be worth it just to inject some extra danger into my life! :D