Laevicaulis alte
species of mollusc
Laevicaulis alte, or the tropical leatherleaf, is a species of tropical land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Veronicellidae, the leatherleaf slugs.
Description
Laevicaulis alte is a round, dark-coloured slug with no shell, 7 or 8 cm (2.8 or 3.1 in) long. Its skin is slightly tuberculated. The central keel is beige in colour.
This slug has a unique, very narrow foot; juvenile specimens have a foot 1 mm (0.039 in) wide and adult specimens have a foot that is only 4 or 5 mm (0.16 or 0.20 in) wide.
The tentacles are small, 2 or 3 mm (0.079 or 0.118 in) long, and they are only rarely extended beyond the edge of the mantle.
Parasites
This slug is an intermediate host for Angiostrongylus cantonensis, the rat lungworm, a round worm, the most common cause of eosinophilic meningoencephalitis.
Predators
Laevicaulis alte is eaten by the frog Rana tigrina.
Distribution
The species is probably indigenous to sub-Saharan Africa, including Tanzania, Botswana and South Africa
It has been introduced and has become an invasive species in the following areas:
Southern Asia
Taiwan
China
Ryukyu Islands, Japan
United States (Hawaii)
Islands in the Indian Ocean
Australia (since 1889)
Samoa
The species is already established in the USA, and is considered to represent a potentially serious threat as a pest, an invasive species which could negatively affect agriculture, natural ecosystems, human health or commerce. Therefore, it has been suggested that this species be given top national quarantine significance in the USA.
Habitat
Laevicaulis alte lives in dry areas, mostly at lower altitudes.
“Laevicaulis alte” enters the record as species of mollusc. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Laevicaulis, alte and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Laevicaulis alte” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Laevicaulis, alte and species provides the most credible route into that argument.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3170495. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1889.
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This entry incorporates text from “Laevicaulis alte” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.