Moraxella osloensis is a Gram-negative oxidase-positive, aerobic bacterium within the family Moraxellaceae in the gamma subdivision of the purple bacteria.

[2] In nature, bacteria colonize the gut of nematode-infective juveniles which represent a specialized stage of development adapted for survival in the unfavorable environment.

[1] The infective juveniles seek out and enter the slug's shell cavity through the posterior mantle region.

[3] The lethality of these nematodes to slugs has been shown to correlate with the number of M. osloensis cells carried by infective juveniles.

[1] Tan and Grewal (2001)[2] demonstrated that the 72-hour-old M. osloensis cultures inoculated into the shell cavity were highly pathogenic to the slug.