Sarasinula plebeia
# Sarasinula plebeia

Sarasinula plebeia, commonly called the bean slug or the Caribbean leatherleaf slug, is a species of air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Veronicellidae, the leatherleaf slugs.

As of November 2012, some websites and databases (including the ITIS entry) have a species listed as "Sarasomia plebeia" by the same author.

## Distribution

Sarasinula plebeia was originally discovered and described under name Vaginulus plebeius by French zoologist Paul Henri Fischer from New Caledonia in 1868. The type locality is New Caledonia.

The distribution of Sarasinula plebeia includes:

* Cuba
* Jamaica
* Saint Martin, Leeward Islands
* Dominica
* Canouan
* Saba Island
* "Southern USA"
* from Mexico to Panama:
   * Mexico
   * Costa Rica
* Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
* Venezuela

It was also introduced to Australasia and some Pacific island groups:

* Saipan, Mariana Islands
* Ritidian Point, Guam
* San José, Leyte, Philippines
* Wasi, Ambon Island, Moluccas
* Vate, Aoba Island, Malakula Island, Espiritu Santo and Malo Island, New Hebrides

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.

## Ecology

Parasites of Sarasinula plebeia include:

* Angiostrongylus cantonensis

## As a pest

In Central America, Sarasinula plebeia is a serious pest of agriculture.

## Genetics

The species is economically important, but as of 2001, only partial sequences of the 28S ribosomal RNA gene of the species had been published by Dayrat et al. up to April 2010.

