''Limacus flavus'', known commonly as the cellar slug, the yellow slug, or the tawny garden slug, is a medium to large species of air-breathing land

slug 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 smal ...

, a terrestrial

pulmonate 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 includ ...

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusk in the family

Limacidae Limacidae, also known by their common name the keelback slugs, are a taxonomic family of medium-sized to very large, air-breathing land slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Limacoidea. Distribution The distributi ...

.MolluscaBase (2019). MolluscaBase. Limacus flavus (Linnaeus, 1758). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=819991 on 2019-07-06

Description

This slug has a yellow body with grey mottling, and pale blue tentacles. When extended, the body length can be . Limax flavus reproductive system

Distribution

The yellow slug is common in Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland as well as most of southern and western Europe. It has been accidentally introduced in many other parts of the world. * Great Britain * Ireland * UkraineBalashov I. & Gural-Sverlova N. 2012. An annotated checklist of the terrestrial molluscs of Ukraine. ''Journal of Conchology''. 41 (1): 91-109. *

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Wiktor A., De-niu C. & Wu M. (2000). "Stylommatophoran slugs of China (Gastropoda: Pulmonata) – prodromus". ''Folia Malacologica'' 8(1): 3-35. * and other areas

Behavior

Yellow slugs, like the majority of other land slugs, use two pairs of tentacles on their heads to sense their environment. The upper pair, called ''optical tentacles'', is used to sense light. The lower pair, ''oral tentacles'', provide the slug's sense of smell. Both pairs can retract and extend themselves to avoid hazards, and, if lost to an accident or predation, can be regrown. Like all slugs, the yellow slug moves relatively slowly, gliding along using a series of muscular contractions on the underside of its

foot The foot ( : feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made ...

, which is lubricated with mucus, such that it leaves a slime trail behind it.

Ecology

This species feeds mostly on fungi, decaying matter, and vegetables.

Habitat

This species is strongly associated with human habitation, and is usually found in damp areas such as cellars, kitchens, and gardens or under stones. Generally speaking it is only seen at night, because it is

nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

. Thus often it goes unnoticed and people are unaware of how (relatively) common the species is. ''Limacus flavus'' are inedible to humans. The slugs and other snails are researched and have been found to have a high count of fatty acid composition of phospholipids, including omega 6 and other important fatty acids.

Parasites

Parasites of ''Limacus flavus'' include the

nematode The nematodes ( or grc-gre, Νηματώδη; la, Nematoda) or roundworms constitute the phylum Nematoda (also called Nemathelminthes), with plant-Parasitism, parasitic nematodes also known as eelworms. They are a diverse animal phylum inhab ...

'' Angiostoma spiridonovi''.Morand, S. (1992) ''Angiostoma spiridonovi'' sp. n. (Nematoda: Angiostomatidae) from ''Limax flavus'' (Gastropoda: Limacidae). ''Journal of the Helminthological Society of Washington'' 59 212–17.

References

* Spencer, H.G., Marshall, B.A. & Willan, R.C. (2009). ''Checklist of New Zealand living Mollusca''. pp 196–219 in Gordon, D.P. (ed.) New Zealand inventory of biodiversity. Volume one. Kingdom Animalia: Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia. Canterbury University Press, Christchurch. * Barker, G. M. (1999). Naturalised terrestrial Stylommatophora (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Fauna of New Zealand 38: 1-254 * Herbert, D.G. (2010). The introduced terrestrial Mollusca of South Africa. SANBI Biodiversity Series, 15: vi + 108 pp. Pretoria. * Sysoev, A. V. & Schileyko, A. A. (2009). Land snails and slugs of Russia and adjacent countries. Sofia/Moskva (Pensoft). 312 pp., 142 plates. une Pensoft Series Faunistica No 87page(s): 151, Fig. 77D, 84F

External links

''Limax flavus''
at Animalbase taxonomy, short description, distribution, biology, status (threats), images
Image of the Great Yellow Slug
{{Taxonbar, from=Q175818 Limacidae Gastropods described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus