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A slug on a wall in Kanagawa, Japan.. Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc.The word slug is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a small internal shell, particularly sea slugs and semi-slugs (this is in contrast to the common name snail, which applies to ...
Limax maximus (literally, "biggest slug"), known by the common names great grey slug and leopard slug, is a species of slug in the family Limacidae, the keeled slugs. [4] It is among the largest keeled slugs, Limax cinereoniger being the largest. Limax maximus is the type species of the genus Limax. The adult slug measures 10–20 cm (3.9–7.9 ...
This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and from the land. There are many thousands of species of sea snails and slugs, as well as freshwater snails, freshwater limpets, land snails and slugs. The class Gastropoda is a diverse and highly successful class of mollusks within the phylum Mollusca.
Mushroom-producing fungi used as a food source by snails and slugs include species from several genera. Some examples are milk-caps (Lactarius spp.), the oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus), and the penny bun. Additionally, slugs feed on fungi from other genera, such as Agaricus, Pleurocybella, and Russula. [29]
The slugs can be seen by the hundreds on cool, wet, misty mornings. [2] During the day, they hide in the plant litter at the base of the trees. [2] At night, they come out and climb the tree to eat algae and mosses growing on the tree trunk. [2] The slugs climb down the tree trunk in the early morning to hide and repeat the cycle. [2]
These slugs prefer to eat on cloudy days or at night when temperatures are above 10 degrees Celsius. Mucus-production necessitates moist habitats, such as among leaf-litter, mosses, or fallen trees. Consequently, the black slug becomes most active after rainfall.
Pulmonata or pulmonates is an informal group (previously an order, and before that, a subclass) of snails and slugs characterized by the ability to breathe air, by virtue of having a pallial lung instead of a gill, or gills. The group includes many land and freshwater families, and several marine families.
Because of the slug's white colour and nocturnal habits, and because it is so rarely seen, it was given the species name ysbryda, the word "ysbryd" meaning ghost in the Welsh language. This in turn gave rise to the common name, "ghost slug". This appears to be the first case of a species name having been taken from the Welsh language.