Damage caused by white snail Cernuella virgata (Da Costa) to green onion crop

Abstract

Damage caused by the white snail Cernuella virgata (Da Costa, 1778) was for the first time observed in vegetable crops in Serbia during the summers of 2011 and 2012. In this country, serious damage to vegetable crops is usually caused by slugs, while snails do not normally cause any significant harm. Typical xerophilic snail species in the genera Cernuella, Xerolenta and Theba cause damage even more rarely since they are limited to wild flora in uncultivated and ruderal areas, and local outbreaks occur seldom and only in forage leguminous crops. The species C. virgata was for the first time found to cause damage to a number of vegetable crops during long periods of extremely warm and dry weather, including total devastation of a green onion crop.

Tokom leta 2011. i 2012. godine prvi put je dokumentovana štetnost belog puža, Cernuella virgata (Da Costa, 1778), na povrtarskim biljkama u Srbiji. U našoj zemlji značajne štete na povrću izazivaju prvenstveno golaći, a veće štete od puževa sa ljušturom nisu uobičajene. Kada se radi o izrazito kserofilnim vrstama puževa rodova Cernuella, Xerolenta i Theba, ispoljavanje štetnosti je još ređe, jer su one ograničene na spontanu floru neobrađenih i ruderalnih površina, sa lokalnim masovnim pojavama samo na površinama pod krmnim leguminozama. Tokom produženih perioda izrazito toplih i suvih uslova, uočena je po prvi put štetnost vrste C. virgata na većem broju povrtarskih biljaka, dok je na parceli mladog luka šteta bila potpuna.