urbpan: (dandelion)
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Like so many of New England's little soil creatures, the dusky slug Arion subfuscus*, is a European import. Its orange mucus distinguishes it from other terrestrial mollusks we might encounter. These animals eat mushrooms and relatively soft plants, including many garden fruits and vegetable. Its broad palate and the fact that it carries both male and female gametes has allows it to spread a third of the way across the continent from its introduction point in Boston in the 1800s.
 photo P1030875_zps8njqhvz0.jpg

*Somewhat dusky slug (Arion fuscus, literally "dusky slug," is a close relative found further east in its native European range.
urbpan: (Default)


Dusky slug, Arion subfuscus

The dusky slug is a common garden mollusk native to Europe now common across most of northeastern North America. This one is making short work of the oyster mushrooms on the stump in the front yard.
urbpan: (dandelion)

This bicolored bolete (Boletus bicolor/campestris complex) was growing beneath our shagbark hickory tree in the front yard.

"Bolete" is a non-specific term for mushrooms that produce spores through a spongy surface rather than the more familiar "gills." At one time all such mushrooms were in the genus Boletus, but as knowledge increased, these were split into dozens of other genera. Now just a few species of boletes are boletus. One dangerous misconception about these mushrooms is that none are poisonous--or that simple rules can distinguish poisonous ones from edible ones. The truth is that identification to species is the only way to be sure any mushroom is poisonous, and several species of bolete can make a person quite ill.

Bicolored boletes are a complex of several species of yellow and red mushrooms with flesh that bruises blue when damaged. You can see in the photograph that when I pulled some grass around the mushroom (to get a clearer shot of the mushroom) my hand brushed against the spore bearing surface which quickly turned blue. Boletus bicolor is supposed to bruise slowly, while B. campestris bruises quickly--but campestris has very small pores, and this mushroom has relatively large pores. This specimen was also heavily water-logged, which could probably affect both field markings. It will have exist in ambiguous realm of a "species complex" for now.


Not far away, a pair of dusky slugs work at making more mushroom-munching mollusks.
urbpan: (Default)
100 species #35 was the cultivated oyster mushroom. I was tempted to profile these wild oysters as a second species, but I'm ahead of schedule, and having a hard time justifying it. Let's just enjoy them!


When Alexis posted her pictures of this group, [livejournal.com profile] asakiyume noticed how the shape of the mushrooms echoed the shape of the birdbath. I think that's wonderful, too, and in an earlier more superstitious time I bet people would not accept it as coincidence.

ExpandRead more... )
urbpan: (Snail)

A dusky slug dormant and fully retracted on a chilly day, in Olmsted Park.
Photo by [livejournal.com profile] cottonmanifesto.

Urban species #307: Dusky slug Arion subfuscus

It can sometimes be hard to believe that a creature very familiar to you, that you associate with your surroundings, is an alien. Rabbits were introduced into Britain by the Romans; dandelions were brought to North America from Europe; pigeons were once a strictly Mediterranean species, but have become citizens of every urban place on Earth. In a similar way, today I learned that the slug that I see almost every day is originally from Europe. I already knew that the large and attractively patterned leopard slug was introduced from the old world, brought across the Atlantic clinging to a leaf, or tumbled in a ship's hold full of soil. But I assumed that the more plain, grayish to yellowish, much smaller and more numerous slugs that are under every log I turn over, were native. These slugs, which have the common name "dusky slug" are even found at the rural wildlife sanctuary where I work--there are never leopard slugs there. As it turns out, the dusky slug's presence in North America was first detected in the early 1800s, in Boston.

Dusky slugs are quite variable in color, and produce an orange mucus that can make them look almost golden yellow. Like other slugs they are largely nocturnal, emerging from concealment at night and during wet weather. They perform lowly but important recycling duty, eating fungi and animal feces, but will also become agricultural pests if they have the chance. They particularly favor soft plants like lettuce and strawberries.

ExpandSee them crawling on a warm wet June day. )

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