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The nematode Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita is lethal to a wide range of pest gastropod species. In Europe, it is available as a biocontrol agent (Nemaslug®), but its complete host range is yet to b...

Testacella vagans Hutton, 1882 Pl. 6, fig. G Hutton, 1882. The New Zealand Journal of Science, 1: 282. Type material. Lectotype (designated by Barker 1999: 98), CMNZ M352 & paralectotypes (2), CMNZ M5033 [ex ZS 1098] (dry shells). The molluscan collection at CMNZ has a radula mounted on a glass slide with the label details ‘ Testacella vagans, Auckland, XVI, pl. 9, fig. T’ (CMNZ 2017.17.57) in Hutton’s handwriting (i.e., CMNZ 2017.17.57), which is probably primary type material. Label details. CMNZ M352—‘ Auckland, Hutton coll.’ Type locality. ‘ Auckland (T. F. Cheeseman)’ (Hutton 1882p: 282); ‘ Auckland (T.F. Cheeseman), and Waiuku (T. Kirk)’ (Hutton 1883d: 140). Previous illustrations of type material. Radula teeth of Testacella vagans illustrated by Hutton (1884b: pl. 10, fig. T) probably from type material. Remarks. Hutton (1882h: 152, pl. 3, fig. E, pl. 4, fig. M) described and illustrated the radula of a semi-slug, that had been “collected by Mr. T. Kirk, at Waiuku, in the Lower Waikato district ”. He identified this specimen as Daudebardia novoseelandica Pfeiffer [= Rhytididae], albeit noting that its distinctive barbed teeth “appear to belong to Testacella ”. Hutton subsequently received additional specimens from Thomas Cheeseman that had been collected from gardens in the vicinity of Auckland and decided that they belonged to a new species of Testacella. He submitted a description of Testacella vagans to the Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute issue for 1882, but publication was delayed until May 1883 (Hutton 1883d: 140), and was pre-empted by a brief description in an account of a meeting of the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury (Hutton 1882p: 282). A shell from the type series (lectotype) of T. vagans is illustrated here for the first time in pl. 6 fig. G. Cheeseman (1887: 170) suggested that vagans may “prove to be the European H. maugei, and that it is only naturalised in New Zealand ”. Musson (1891: 885) and Suter (1892b: 279) also considered that T. vagans was adventive in New Zealand, and it was listed as a junior synonym of T. maugei Férussac, 1819 by Hedley & Suter (1893: 665), Suter (1913: 1073), Thomson (1922: 259), and as a junior synonym of T. haliotidea Draparnaud, 1801 by Barker (1979: 414, 1982: 177). Barker (1999: 98) later concluded that T. vagans was conspecific with T. maugei, based on examination of type material. The latter species is thought to be native to the Atlantic coastal zone between Morocco and NW France, and Canary, Azores, Madeira and Channel Islands (Welter-Schultes 2012: 419), and has been introduced to South Africa and New Zealand (Barker 1999, Herbert 2010). Hutton’s (1882h,p) descriptions are the earliest record of T. maugei from New Zealand. At present the only confirmed records are from the Auckland region, where this species is still extant locally in modified urban habitats (F. Brook pers. obs.). According to Barker (1999: 99), records of Testacella from elsewhere in New Zealand were based on T. haliotidea Draparnaud. Current taxonomy. A subjective junior synonym of Testacella maugei Férussac, 1819 — Hedley & Suter (1893: 665), Suter (1913: 1073), Thomson (1922: 259), Barker (1999: 99). Part 3: Land snail species with type material incorrectly stated to be from New Zealand Subclass Caenogastropoda Order Architaenioglossa, Published as part of Brook, Fred J., Kennedy, Martyn, King, Tania M., Ridden, Johnathon, Shaw, Matthew D. & Spencer, Hamish G., 2020, Catalogue of New Zealand land, freshwater and estuarine molluscan taxa named by Frederick Wollaston Hutton between 1879 and 1904, pp. 1-73 in Zootaxa 4865 (1) on pages 55-56, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4865.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4428428, {"references":["Barker, G. M. (1999) Naturalised terrestrial Stylommatophora (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Fauna of New Zealand 38. Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln, 254 pp.","Hutton, F. W. (1882 p) Meetings of Societies, Philosophical Institute of Canterbury. Christchurch, 7 th September, 1882. Descriptions of new land shells. The New Zealand Journal of Science, 1 (6), 281 - 282. [November]","Hutton, F. W. (1883 d) Descriptions of new land shells. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, 15, 134 - 141. [May]","Hutton, F. W. (1884 b) Notes on New Zealand land shells. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, 16, 161 - 186. [May]","Hutton, F. W. (1882 h) Notes on some pulmonate Mollusca. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, 14, 150 - 158. [May]","Cheeseman, T. F. (1887) On the Mollusca of the vicinity of Auckland. Transactions & Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, 19, 161 - 176.","Musson, C. T. (1891) On the naturalised forms of land and fresh-water Mollusca in Australia. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, Series 2, 15, 883 - 896. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. part. 18668","Suter, H. (1892 b) List of the introduced land and fresh-water Mollusca of New Zealand. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, 24, 279 - 281.","Hedley, C. & Suter, H. (1893) Reference list of the land and freshwater Mollusca of New Zealand. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, Series 2, 7, 613 - 665. [May]","Suter, H. (1913) Manual of the New Zealand Mollusca. MacKay, Government Printer, Wellington, 1120 pp.","Thomson, G. M. (1922) The Naturalisation of Animals and Plants in New Zealand. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, x + 607 pp.","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 / 03014223.1979.10428382","Barker, G. M. (1982) Notes on the introduced terrestrial Pulmonata (Gastropoda: Mollusca) of New Zealand. Journal of Molluscan Studies, 48, 174 - 181. https: // doi. org / 10.1093 / oxfordjournals. mollus. a 065634","Welter-Schultes, F. W. (2012) European Non-Marine Molluscs, a Guide for Species Identification: Bestimmungsbuch fur europaische Land-und Susswassermollusken. Planet Poster Editions, Gottingen, 760 pp.","Herbert, D. G. (2010) The introduced terrestrial Mollusca of South Africa. SANBI Biodiversity Series 15. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, 108 pp."]}

Testacella schuetti Schlickum, 1967 (Fig. 27) Testacella schuetti Schlickum, 1967: 63 (fig. 1); Harzhauser et al., 2008: 53 (figs. 7.2–7.3); Nardi & Bodon, 2011: 159 (table 3). Testacella (Testacella) schuetti: Schütt, 1967: 218 (fig. 19). Testacella zelli: Gall, 1980: 56. Material examined. BSPG 1952 XVIII 22 (5 spcm.). Description. Shell small, ear-shaped, vestigial; shell width ~ 3 / 5 shell length. Apex pointed, curved. Shell with well-marked growth lines. Aperture elongated, oval; parietal and columellar region greatly thickened. Previous identification of the material. Gall (1980: Nr. 1): Testacella zelli Klein [sic]. Discussion. The shell is vestigial in this monotypic family and, therefore, is of very limited taxonomical value. Despite being slightly larger, the present specimens compare well with T. schuetti by its oval aperture, low shell and a pointed but curved apex. The species is known from few Middle Miocene (Sarmatian, MN 7–8) sites of the Styrian Basin and North-Alpine Foreland Basin (type locality: Hollabrunn, Austria; Schlickum 1967; Harzhauser et al. 2008). As such, the present record is the oldest for the species. Paleoecological remarks. Recent Testacella are voracious predators, feeding on earthworms, gastropods and centipedes, and live mainly underground, thus requiring a moist soil cover (Barker & Efford 2004). This burrowing habit should make preservation in the fossil record difficult. FIGUREs 4– 5. Gyraulus sp., juvenile (BSPG 1952 XVIII 16; H = 0.4 mm, D = 0.7 mm). FIGURE 6. Clausiliidae indet., spire fragment (BSPG 1952 XVIII 37; H = 2.9 mm). FIGUREs 12–13. Archaeozonites sp. (BSPG 1952 XVIII 42; H = 17.6 mm, D = 28.6 mm). FIGURE 14. Klikia cf. c oarctata (BSPG 1952 XVIII 7; D = 7.8 mm)., Published as part of Salvador, Rodrigo B., 2014, The fossil land and freshwater snails of Gündlkofen (Middle Miocene, Germany), pp. 271-287 in Zootaxa 3785 (2) on pages 281-283, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3785.2.9, http://zenodo.org/record/224845, {"references":["Schlickum, W. R. (1967) Zwei neue fossile Arten der Gattung Testacella Cuvier. Archiv fur Molluskenkunde, 96 (1 / 2), 63 - 66.","Harzhauser, M., Gross, M. & Binder, H. (2008) Biostratigraphy of Middle Miocene (Sarmatian) wetland systems in an Eastern Alpine intramontane basin (Gratkorn Basin, Austria): the terrestrial gastropod approach. Geologia Carpathica, 59 (1), 45 - 58.","Nardi, G. & Bodon, M. (2011) Una nuova specie di Testacella Lamarck, 1801, per l'Italia Settentrionale (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Testacellidae). Bollettino Malacologico, 47, 150 - 164.","Schutt, H. (1967) Die Landschnecken der untersarmatischen Rissoenschichten von Hollabrunn, N. - O. Archiv fur Molluskenkunde, 96 (3 / 6), 199 - 222.","Gall, H. (1980) Eine Gastropodenfauna aus dem Landshuter Schotter der Oberen Sußwassermolasse (Westliche Paratethys, Badenien) von Gundlkofen / Niederbayern. Mitteilungen der Bayerischen Staatssammlung fur Palaontologie und historische Geologie, 20, 51 - 77.","Barker, G. M. & Efford, M. G. (2004) Predatory gastropods as natural enemies of terrestrial gastropods and other invertebrates. In: Barker, G. M. (Ed.), Natural Enemies of Terrestrial Molluscs. CABI Publishing, Wallingford, pp. 279 - 404."]}

SOME time ago I wrote to you to say that the remarkable slug Testacella occasionally appeared in large numbers on the surface of the ground in my garden. This phenomenon only occurs when the district is heavily flooded. The abnormal weather of the last half of April has brought severe floods out in many parts of the Thames valley, and yesterday, through the kindness of a friend who now occupies the house and garden referred to, I was able to collect about a hundred of these animals. I shall be pleased, therefore, to send specimens alive or preserved to those correspondents who wrote to me on the subject when my previous letter appeared in NATURE, whose addresses I have mislaid, unfortunately, while changing houses. I may add that it is only in this particular garden that I have seen these animals. What the conditions may be that cause the slugs to live there and not else where, so far as I know, in the neighbourhood, I am quite unable to suggest. They live too far down even in wet weather to be found during ordinary gardening operations.

UNTIL reading Mr. Latter's letter in this week's NATURE I was unaware that it was not a matter of common knowledge that Testacella appears on the surface during heavy rains. My garden is liable to be flooded, as also, unhappily, is much of this neighbourhood, in spring and late autumn. After the water has stood for a few days the ground is covered by hundreds of these slugs, which leave their burrows and try to find dry quarters. They can survive, however, a week's immersion. In June, 1903, when much of the Thames valley was flooded, I collected a number of these slugs for various malacological friends. In normal circumstances they live at such a depth as never to be unearthed during garden operations.

BETWEEN four and five months ago I found eleven specimens of this slug upon a low wall surrounding the garden of a house near the Oxford University Parks, and on the following day I captured eleven more in the same place. There had been exceptionally heavy rain, extending over some days, immediately previous to those on which I found the specimens, and it therefore seems probable that these animals are driven out of the earth when it becomes sodden with moisture. Thus it is possible to account for the capture of a very unusual number of specimens, for, as far as I can learn, the species has hitherto only been met with singly in this locality.

IN NATURE for last year the writer gave a list of the localities for Testacella scutulum which had come under his notice. With a view to making this list more complete, and to obtaining a more definite idea of the distribution of the various species of the genus in the British Isles, the writer would be greatly indebted to any reader of NATURE who could forward to him, localised specimens of Testacella, alive, or preserved in alcohol, the present month being a likely one for the coming above ground of these slugs, which should now be found under logs and stones in the neighbourhood of rich garden soil.

UNDER the above heading in NATURE, vol. xxxiv. p. 617 (October 28, 1886), Prof. E. B. Poulton recorded the capture of twenty-two specimens of this rare slug upon a wall in Oxford. On that occasion there had been exceptionally heavy rains, and it was suggested that the, animals had been driven out of their usual habitat, the earth, as it became sodden with moisture. I am in a position to confirm the accuracy of this suggestion. Last evening I captured five specimens of Testacella haliotidea upon a stone wall near Charterhouse. The slugs were apparently crawling out of the ivy which thickly clothes the top of the wall, and were making their way back to the earth. During the previous eight days no less than 3.80 inches of rain fell at this place. It seems probable that the slugs had taken refuge in the dense shelter of the ivy while the soil was unfit for them, and that on the return of hot, dry weather were once again seeking their subterranean quarters.