Sister Robin, thank you very much for your report and the excellent photos. I have forwarded them on to the Oregon Department of Agriculture for positive identification, and will provide an update to this report shortly. Thank you!

Lisa DeBruyckere
Nov. 5, 2012, 2:05 a.m.

Sister Robin, here's the response back from a USDA APHIS expert:

The "earshell slug", Testacella haliotidea...named so for the remnant fingernail-sized shell on its back. It is an exotic species (native to Europe), but widely established in the Pacific northwest. It is seldom seem, as it mostly lives underground in pursuit of invertebrate prey, such as earthworms. According to Robert Forsythe's book, and the words of Frank Collins Baker, these slugs "will pursue an earthworm through its many subterranean burrows ...with the persistency ...of a tiger."

Thank you again for your great report and excellent photos.

Lisa DeBruyckere
Nov. 5, 2012, 3 a.m.