Arion (Arion) cf. vulgaris Moquin-Tandon 1855

Cvetkovska-Gjorgievska, Aleksandra, Dedov, Ivailo, Hristovski, Slavcho, Langourov, Mario, Lazarevska, Stanislava, Prelik, Dana & Simov, Nikolay, 2019, New records of allochtonous, invasive and pest invertebrate species from the Republic of Macedonia, Ecologica Montenegrina 20, pp. 56-70 : 58

Arion (Arion) cf. vulgaris Moquin-Tandon 1855 (complex) ( Gastropoda, Arionidae )

Records: Skopje, Kapishtec, park with grasses and Rubus, 270 m., N41.990642° E21.412814°, 19.10.2014, 21 specimens, leg. S. Hristovski; Skopie, Kapishtec, Park with grasses and Rubus, 270 m. a.s.l., 1 specimens laying eggs under stones, 21.02.2016, leg. N. Simov, S. Hristovski and I. Dedov; vill. Yanchishte, marsh, ruderal habitats, Alnus , N42.0521456° E21.1213413°, 17.09.2016, leg. L. Melovski.

Origin: South-Eastern Europe (Iberian Peninsula – Portugal, Spain, Andorra, South France).

Comments: A. cf. vulgaris is known being a pest from the past century ( Godan 1983). Nowadays it is one of the most aggressive invasive gastropod species in and outside of Europe, causing damages of garden plants, stored productions, and saplings of deciduous forests (Proschwitz T. Von 1997; Rowson et al. 2014; Dedov et al. 2017). Furthermore Welter-Schultes (2012) reports that A. cf. vulgaris competes and replaces the close species Arion rufus (Linnaeus 1758) , as well as A. cf. vulgaris can act as a vector for pathogenic Listeria spp . and L. monocytogenes ( Gismervik et al. 2015) . It is known that A. cf. vulgaris feeds on dead individuals of their own species as well as other invertebrate and vertebrate animals (Dedov, unpublished data). The subgenus and respectively species are not given in the list of Bank (2013) for Macedonia. Stankovic, Stojkoska & Norris (2006) published species Arion lusitanicus Mabile, 1868 . The taxonomy and synonymy of the subgenus Arion are still not fully clear. Some authors ( Wiktor 1983; Bank 2013) consider this species as a synonym of Arion (Arion) lusitanicus J. Mabille 1868 , but contemporary studies indicate that we have (minimum) two different species ( Castillejo 1997; Rowson et al. 2014).