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  • Open Access
  • Article

From Field to Guts: Hidden Gastropod Diversity in Gardens and in the Diet of the Invasive Flatworm Obama nungara

  • Mathis Ventura 1,*,   
  • Nicolas Mazuras 1,   
  • Xavier Cucherat 2,   
  • Shanèze Noël 1,   
  • Lise Dupont 1 and 
  • Virginie Roy 1

Received: 04 June 2026 | Revised: 30 September 2026 | Accepted: 23 October 2026 | Published: 02 November 2026

Abstract

Urban green spaces host diverse assemblages of terrestrial gastropods, including native, synanthropic, and non-native species, whose diversity and composition are shaped by multiple abiotic and biotic factors. Among these, predation may represent an important but poorly characterized driver. Standard field surveys can underestimate local diversity by overlooking small, cryptic, or low-abundance taxa. Here, we assessed gastropod diversity and the influence of predation by the invasive terrestrial flatworm Obama nungara across urban sites in mainland France using complementary field surveys and molecular approaches. Previously published COI and 16S barcoding data were used for gastropod identification and diversity analyses, while new metabarcoding data were generated from predator gut contents to characterize their diet. Gastropod assemblages showed strong variation in species richness and composition among sites. The barcoding data revealed intraspecific structure within several taxa, suggesting cryptic diversity and highlighting the limits of morphology-based identification. Assemblage structure was only weakly associated with the abiotic variables considered, including soil characteristics and contamination levels. Analysis of predator gut contents revealed a spectrum of gastropod prey, including taxa not detected through field surveys, thereby increasing the estimate of diversity. Diet composition was dominated by slugs, and prey diversity per predator was positively related to site-level gastropod richness. Introduced slug species were detected more frequently in predator gut contents than native ones, while larger slug species were detected less frequently. Together, these results demonstrate the complementarity of field surveys and predator-based metabarcoding for assessing urban gastropod diversity and provide new insights into invasive flatworms as generalist predators.

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Ventura, M.; Mazuras, N.; Cucherat, X.; Noël, S.; Dupont, L.; Roy, V. From Field to Guts: Hidden Gastropod Diversity in Gardens and in the Diet of the Invasive Flatworm Obama nungara. Soil Ecology 2026, 1 (1), 2.
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