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Sticker of Ash-black slug
Bug card No. 0053 of 1,500

Ash-black slug

Limax cinereoniger
Eats: Fungus and mouldSnails, slugs and wormsForests and woodsNo legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The ash-black slug is the biggest land slug in the world. It is long and soft, usually black, grey or brown, with a pale stripe along its back. It has no shell and slides along on one big foot under old leaves and logs.

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
Most of Europe, east to the Ural Mountains, in old woods and sometimes parks
Length
10 to 20 cm (3.9 to 7.9 in)
Top speed
about 0.04 km/h (0.02 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Wash your hands after touching it, like after touching any wild animal.
What does it eat?
It mostly eats mushrooms and the thin green algae that grow on trees and logs. It does not munch garden plants, so it is no pest.
For real!Photo of Ash-black slug
Picture by Holger Krisp. CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Ash-black slug about 20 cm long (7.9 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 6 toy building bricks in a rowas long as 1 bananas end to endcould run across a dinner table in 90 seconds

How big is Ash-black slug compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Most adults are 10 to 20 centimetres long, but some grow longer than 30 centimetres, longer than a school ruler.

2

Babies are toffee brown, and the grown-ups can be jet black, grey or brown.

3

Its feelers are dark with little black or brown spots.

4

It likes old woods that have stood for a very long time.

you asked

Most asked questions about Ash-black slug

?How big is the ash-black slug?

Most adults are 10 to 20 centimetres long, and the biggest ones grow over 30 centimetres.

?What does the ash-black slug eat?

Mostly mushrooms and algae. It does not eat garden plants.

?Is the ash-black slug harmful?

No. It is harmless to people and it is not a garden pest.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Limax cinereoniger
Group
Snails, slugs and worms
Family
Limacidae
Classification
Gastropoda > Stylommatophora > Limacidae
Lives on
Europe

Where the facts come from

  1. Limax cinereoniger (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 Holger Krisp. CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same 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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