Description: Belongs to the garden slug group but is distinctive in its tawny brown colouration with broad, blackish lateral bands and coarse dorsal tubercles 30-38 mm.

World Distribution: Reported with certainty only from Britain and Ireland. Distribution type: Oceanic Temperate (71).

Irish Distribution: Described from material collected near Buncrana in Co. Donegal (Davies, 1977, 1979). Widespread and locally common in old woodland, roadsides and gardens in Donegal, Tyrone and Londonderry. Rare in the east Antrim glens and around Lough Neagh, and apparently a recent colonist of the Lagan Valley west of Belfast (Anderson 1977, 1984, 1991). Scattered along west coasts from Galway to Cork, but very local. Mostly absent in the east.

Ecology:

• Primarily a woodland species and common in old birch, oak or hazel scrub in the north and west
• Has also been found under moss on coastal rocks and on grassy roadside verges
• There is some evidence that it can be spread in horticultural waste (Anderson, 1977, 1984) yet it has not been reported from gardens or from the vicinity of buildings

Key Identification Features:

• Broader and less depressed than either Arion distinctus or A. hortensis and with distinctly brownish colours rather than grey
• Lateral bands broad and often diffuse, brown to smoky black
• Sole yellow and mucus yellowish
• Tentacles purplish in colour
• Dorsal tubercles broad and coarse, appearing ridged when the animal is at rest

Red list status:

• Least concern (lc).

Distribution Map from NBN: Arion owenii at National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.

iNaturalist: Arion owenii at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

GBIF data for Arion owenii | Classification: Gastropoda, Stylommatophora, Arionidae, Arion

Thumbnails for genus Arion