| Abstract |
Herein, we first report the comprehensive description of the terrestrial slug, Sarasinula plebeia (Gastropoda: Veronicellidae) by employing morphology, morpho脙聝脗垄脙聜脗聙脙聜脗聭taxometrics and molecular analysis. A rapid survey on terrestrial slug inva脙聝脗垄脙聜脗聙脙聜脗聭sive alien species (IAS) was conducted in La Dicha, Malangas, Zamboanga Sibugay, the Philippines. Obtained COI gene sequenc脙聝脗垄脙聜脗聙脙聜脗聭es shared 100% similarities to S. plebeia from Brazil (JX532107, KM489378), Dominica (KM489500) and Vietnam (KM489367) and further supported using Bayesian analysis thus designated as S. plebeia isolate LDZS. Notably, the first reported S. plebe-ia in 2013 from Batan island, Batanes, northern Philippines, characterized through COI gene markers (JQ582277, JQ582278, JQ582279) showed 100% sequence similarities to a closely related veronicellid slug, Laevecaulisalte isolates (LC636101, LC636102, LC636103, and LC636104) from Japan. Taken this into account, our S. plebeia LDZS isolated from an agricultural field is the first report in the Philippines with combined diagnostic tools for the taxon |
Mindanao State
University - Iligan Institute of Technology