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Sticker of Carpathian blue slug
Bug card No. 0804 of 4,939

Carpathian blue slug

Bielzia coerulans
Eats: PlantsSnails, slugs and wormsForests and woodsNo legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The Carpathian blue slug is a big slug that is bright blue. It only turns blue when it is grown up. Before that, the young slugs are yellowish brown with dark stripes.

Fun fact: this one is not an insect at all, it has no legs! But kids find it on every bug hunt, so it lives in Bug Wiki too.
Lives in
The Carpathian Mountains in Central and Eastern Europe, in mountain forests
Length
10 to 14 cm (3.9 to 5.5 in)
Top speed
about 0.03 km/h (0.02 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Wash your hands after touching any slug.
What does it eat?
It finds its food on the damp forest floor, like other slugs.
For real!Photo of Carpathian blue slug
Picture by Alex Zelenko. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Carpathian blue slug about 14 cm long (5.5 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)A house cat about 50 cm (20 in)
as long as 4 toy building bricks in a rowabout as long as your handneeds 2 minutes to cross a dinner table

How big is Carpathian blue slug compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Some are blue green, and once in a while one is black.

2

It lays 30 to 80 eggs at a time, and the grown ups die after laying them.

3

Half grown young slugs sleep through the winter.

4

It likes to hide on the ground or under dead logs in mountain forests.

5

It is the only species in its group, called Bielzia.

you asked

Most asked questions about Carpathian blue slug

?Is the Carpathian blue slug really blue?

Yes. Grown up slugs are bright blue or blue green. Young ones are yellowish brown.

?How big is the Carpathian blue slug?

Big, about 10 to 14 centimetres long.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Bielzia coerulans
Named by
Bielz, 1851
Group
Snails, slugs and worms
Family
Limacidae
Classification
Gastropoda > Stylommatophora > Limacidae
Lives on
Europe
Also known as
Blue slug

Where the facts come from

  1. Bielzia (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Alex Zelenko. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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