''Testacella scutulum'' is an air-breathing,

carnivorous A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other ...

land slug Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a sm ...

, a

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

gastropod

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is es ...

in the family Testacellidae, the shelled slugs. Like other species in the genus, this European slug eats earthworms, spends most of its life underground, and is rarely seen.

Distribution

This species is known to occur in a number of European countries and islands including: *

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

''Testacella scutulum''
AnimalBase, accessed 22 December 2008. *

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

* Spain * Croatia * Italy and Sicily *

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Mo ...

* Switzerland * and other areas Testacella scutulum reproductive system

Description

This slug, like others in the family, has a small shell which is situated towards the rear of the animal. The specific name means "shield", a reference to the shape of the shell. The animal is yellow with black or brown spots. The foot fringe and sole are usually orange. Thelateral grooves join before reaching their common origin at the front edge of themantle. The shell is narrower than in ''

Testacella haliotidea The shelled slug, scientific name ''Testacella haliotidea'', is a rarely seen, air-breathing, carnivorous land slug, a terrestrial gastropod mollusk in the family Testacellidae, the shelled slugs.Marshall, B. (2014). Testacella haliotidea La ...

'' and nearly triangular; flattened, sometimes concave, outer margin of the aperture sharply truncate and without angle at the columella. Size:Animal 8–12 cm long, shell 6-7 (length) x 3.5-4.5 (width) mm AnimalBase
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References

External links

''Testacella scutulum''
at

Animalbase AnimalBase is a project brought to life in 2004 and is maintained by the University of Göttingen, Germany. The goal of the AnimalBase project is to digitize early zoological literature, provide copyright-free open access to zoological works, and p ...

taxonomy,short description, distribution, biology,status (threats), images
Photo of ''Testacella scutulum''

Photo of ''Testacella scutulum'' eating an earthworm
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1499271 Testacellidae Gastropods described in 1821 Taxa named by George Brettingham Sowerby I