The New Zealand flatworm ( Arthurdendyus triangulatus) is becoming more common in gardens, having been introduced via garden centers through potted plants. It is a predator of earthworms and is usually of a muddy brown colour, however juvenile animals are of a peachy flesh colour like this one,and attain darker pigment as they grow, up to 20cm. It was found by friend Mark Spencer ,a gardener and entomologist in the Christchurch area.
flatworms are not slugs but do possess slime . A variety of slugs that I have come across lately are pictured below.The common black slug ( Arion ater ) is often orange or cream in southern Britain, here is a bi-colored specimen. The species always has an orange sole fringe, and often rocks from side to side when disturbed .
The species eat mainly carrion and fungi and do not eat living plants, so they are not a pest in the garden. Another species is the leopard slug (Limax maximus), a pretty and very variable species.
Similar but much smaller are the tree slugs(Limax marginatus)which also varies and two different forms are depicted below climbing a tree.
In damp woods ,sometimes thousands of these plaster the beach or ash trees when conditions are right. A lesser known species(Limax pseudoflavus) is under recorded in Britain but seems to be more common in Ireland. Here a specimen is on natural acid grassland on the Bournemouth sea cliff.It may be the more common L.flavus, which in itself is thought to be of Mediterranean in origin. Both species are easily confused.
