[NatureNS] re great grey? slug love? -- location of sighting? etc.

From: "jen cooper" <iffercooper@hotmail.com>
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
Date: Sat, 04 Aug 2007 23:53:40 +0000
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Return-Path: <naturens-mml-owner@chebucto.ns.ca>
Original-Recipient: rfc822;"| (cd /csuite/info/Environment/FNSN/MList; /csuite/lib/arch2html)"

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hi,

it could very well have been a great grey. unless the other species looks 
similar but is less spotted and more lined. i would have matched it to the 
picture in the link that flora sent. i will keep an eye out in the yard for 
another, they are around, and i'll make a better note of its characteristics 
for you. i'm in sydney, cape breton.

enjoy your weekend,
jen

>From: Jim Wolford <jimwolford@eastlink.ca>
>Reply-To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
>To: NatureNS <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
>CC: Andrew Hebda <HEBDAAJ@gov.ns.ca>,        Derek Davis 
><ddavis@accesswave.ca>
>Subject: [NatureNS] re great grey? slug love? -- location of sighting? etc.
>Date: Sat, 04 Aug 2007 17:33:09 -0300
>
>I would like to know where Jen's sighting was, and whether she thinks they
>were indeed great grey slugs.  I remember tracking down a report of these 
>in
>the Cambridge or Coldbrook area west of Kentville, and at the time reading
>that this very large and distinctive alien slug was also known from Halifax
>but not many or any other areas of the province, as of perhaps 20 years 
>ago?
>
>Perhaps we can get an update from Andrew Hebda, or Chris Majka, or ideally
>from Derek Davis, who has done a lot of work on documenting land snails and
>slugs for Nova Scotia?
>
>Cheers from Jim in Wolfville
>----------
>From: jen cooper <iffercooper@hotmail.com>
>Reply-To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
>Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2007 22:13:36 +0000
>To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
>Subject: RE: [NatureNS] slug love?
>
>very, very cool. thank you for such a great, in depth response! i suppose
>not many can say they've seen that. it was quite beautiful.
>
>:) jen
>
> >From: "Wild Flora" <herself@wildflora.com>
> >Reply-To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
> >To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
> >Subject: RE: [NatureNS] slug love?
> >Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2007 17:42:51 -0300
> >
> >Thank you, Jen, for giving the the opportunity to quote the following.
> >(We'll see if it gets past the censors.):
> >
> >According to the Western Society of Malacologists "Field Guide to the 
>Slug"
> >(Sasquatch Books),
> >
> >"Although slugs are hermaphroditic, each animal equipped with both male 
>and
> >female reproductive organs, they mate with themselves only if no other
> >slugs
> >are around. ... The actual exchange of sperm is preceded by an elaborate
> >courtship ritual, which supposedly reduces the chances of two individuals
> >of
> >separate species mating and giving rise to hybrids.
> >
> >"During courtship, two slugs will circle each other, often for hours, 
>with
> >both partners engaged in ritualized bouts of lunging, nipping, and
> >sideswiping with their tails. The two slugs may also display their
> >disproportionately large sex organs. ...
> >
> >"'The sight of a courting pair of slugs majestically circling one another
> >and ceremoniously rasping each other's flanks while they solemnly wave
> >their
> >enormous penises overhead puts the most improbably athletic couples of
> >Pompeii and Khajuraho into a more appropriate and severely diminished
> >perspective,' note researchers C. David Rollo and William G. Wellington.
> >'Athletic' is an even more appropriate adjective for great gray garden
> >slugs, which are able to copulate in midair, suspended by stretchy 
>strands
> >of mucus up to 17 3/4 (45 cm) long."
> >
> >In short, it seems likely that you caught a couple of great gray garden
> >slugs in flagrante dilecto. What you saw hanging from them was probably
> >their swollen genital areas. It wouldn't have been egg, as these are laid
> >later, in a more conventional (i.e., chicken-like) fashion, or babies as
> >the
> >eggs don't hatch for several weeks, if not longer.
> >
> >The great gray garden slug, Limax maximus, is from Eurasia but apparently
> >is
> >not considered a pest species as it eats mainly decaying material. It's
> >fairly recognizable because it has leopardlike spots or on the mantle,
> >often
> >with a striped body. Photo at 
>http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek000608.html
> >
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca 
>[mailto:naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca]
> >On Behalf Of jen cooper
> >Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2007 10:36 AM
> >To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
> >Subject: [NatureNS] slug love?
> >
> >last night i found two slugs hanging on a mucous thread from the side of 
>my
> >house. they were entwined  in a really beautiful spiral. there was
> >something
> >
> >hanging from them. it came from each of them and looked like it 
>originated
> >behind their heads. but it was dark and i didnt want to disturb them too
> >much so i'm really not sure... it was fleshy and also wrapped in a spiral
> >around the other. i would guess that this was iether sex organs or 
>perhaps
> >little baby slugs? they looked sluggy but where smaller and whitish and 
>so
> >entwined that i could not pick out any characteristics like antenae or
> >anything.
> >
> >when i went back later to check on them one slug was on the step below 
>and
> >the other was on the mucous thread, i imagine eating it. there were no
> >fleshy bits present then. does anyone have any idea what i witnessed? any
> >slug love experts?
> >
> >:) jen
> >
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