Slug: Ambigolimax

05 Saturday Apr 2025

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Ambigolimax, British molluscs, British slugs, slug

For some reason the national recorder for slugs thought I’d used a photo app to identify this slug, which I’ve never done. Maybe he just assumed everyone uses them these days, and, in this case, he was ‘afraid the photograph app which you have used has led you astray’. The truth is that I’d googled, and searched various online websites, and couldn’t work out what this slug was so had just recorded it as one of the Arion species. I even managed to get that wrong – turns out this is one of the Three-band slugs (though, I have to admit, I can only see two bands) and ‘At present we cannot tell which of the two species it is without dissection so it has to be recorded just as Ambigolimax‘. I’ll know for the future.

Disco for slugs

01 Friday Nov 2024

Posted by sconzani in autumn, fungi, molluscs

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British fungi, British molluscs, British slugs, fungi, Lemon disco, slug

Who knew slugs liked disco? Lemon disco, that is. The fungus, not the John Travolta – Saturday Night Fever – Bee Gees – strobing lights type of disco. This particular slug certainly did, as it had paused its slithering to taste the delicate little yellow cups.

241101 slug and lemon disco

A live slug

24 Monday Oct 2022

Posted by sconzani in molluscs, slugs

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Arion rufus, British slugs, Large red slug

I was rather concerned when, last month, I read a report that ecologists were concerned the slug and snail populations may have been devastated by the summer heatwaves and drought (The Guardian, 27 September 2022). Though I’m sure many gardeners would rejoice at this news, their slimy little enemies do play an essential part in our ecosystems, breaking down vegetation and aerating soils, as well as being food for birds, hedgehogs, etc. Fortunately, for the slugs and snails, they are apparently excellent reproducers so their populations should bounce back next year. Still, I was really pleased to spot this handsome Large red slug (Arion rufus) sliding along the path during yesterday’s walk.

221024 slug

Green cellar slug

01 Thursday Apr 2021

Posted by sconzani in molluscs

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British slugs, Green cellar slug, Limacus maculatus

Thanks to the expert whose voluntary task it is to verify any slug records input to the local biodiversity records database, I now know that what I thought was a Leopard slug (Limax maximus) is actually a Green cellar slug (Limacus maculatus). The expert kindly explained: ‘You are far from the first person to have made this misidentification. Limax maximus is brown, rather rougher and dryer in texture than either of the Limacus species,[and] is usually solitary.’ Always learning!

210401 green cellar slug

291/365 Good weather for slugs

18 Friday Oct 2019

Posted by sconzani in autumn, molluscs, nature

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Arion ater agg, Black slug, British molluscs, British slugs, slug

191018 Black slug (1)

I know Wales has a reputation for being a wet country but the past couple of weeks have been much wetter than any I’ve known in my four years here. Still, it’s good weather for slugs, which is why this large and colourful beastie was to be found sliding its way across my path today. It was about 3 inches long and I presume, despite its colour – they vary a lot, that it’s a Black slug (Arion ater agg.), a species that can only be positively identified by examination of its genitals. I’m not going there!

191018 Black slug (2)