Lisa Bendall found these mystery slugs near her Etobicoke home.

LISA BENDALL PHOTO

After Lisa Bendall and her daughter spotted some unusually coloured slugs while walking to school one day, they launched an investigation that has the world of amateur and professional malacologists (that's slug- and snail-watchers to you and me) scratching their heads. "We were in awe," says Bendall, a freelance writer, of the pumpkin-coloured things, which are 10 centimetres long when extended. But she and 10-year-old Emily didn't realize how rare the slugs actually are.

They appear to be a species native to Europe, one that has never been reported in Ontario.

If the Etobicoke creatures turn out to be of European descent, it will likely remain a mystery whether they're newly arrived or have been here undetected for a long time.

After her discovery, Bendall contacted one of Canada's few experts in slugs, who was intrigued and urged Bendall to look for more of the molluscs. She found them.

One of her neighbours said the slugs were driving her crazy. She took Bendall to her backyard vegetable patch. After light prodding with a pitchfork, they found 13 slugs. The neighbour also showed Bendall the slug bait she'd left out – they were feasting on it.

Bendall sent photos of the slugs and live samples to Aleta Karstad, an amateur malacologist who, with her biologist husband, Frederick Schueler, runs Bishops Mills Natural History Centre, south of Ottawa.

"They are tremendously interesting," says Karstad, "like slow-moving lions in the vegetable world."

Karstad forwarded the images to Swiss taxonomist Ulrich Schneppat, who was recently in Canada giving workshops on slugs.

Even experts such as Schneppat say they can't be certain what these slugs are. The sure way to identify them is to examine their genitalia. This is achieved through delicate anatomical dissection.

Schneppat says the Etobicoke slugs resemble the Arion rufus, which originates in Europe. Anything further is speculation.

The Arion rufus – whose colour ranges from black to vivid orange – has been seen in British Columbia.

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