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Sticker of Black-headed slug
Bug card No. 0466 of 4,939

Black-headed slug

Krynickillus melanocephalus
Eats: PlantsSnails, slugs and wormsGardens and meadowsNo legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The black-headed slug is a pale slug with a deep black head, black feelers and a black neck. It comes from the area around the Black Sea. Now it is spreading quickly through gardens in northern and central Europe.

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
First from the Caucasus, Crimea, Turkey and Iran, now also in much of Europe
Length
6 cm (2.4 in)
Top speed
about 0.02 km/h (0.01 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Wash your hands after touching a slug, like after touching any wild animal.
What does it eat?
It eats algae, fallen fruit and fungi.
For real!Photo of Black-headed slug
Picture by Jonas Roth. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Black-headed slug about 6 cm long (2.4 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 2 toy building bricks in a rowneeds 3 minutes to cross a dinner table

How big is Black-headed slug compared to YOU?

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

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It can grow to about 6 centimetres long, or sometimes a bit more.

2

It reached Germany in 1994, Finland in 2017, and now also lives in Estonia.

3

It becomes grown-up in autumn and dies off in winter.

4

It likes to lay its eggs in piles of fallen leaves.

you asked

Most asked questions about Black-headed slug

?Is the black-headed slug a pest?

Some say it harms crops, but it mostly eats algae, fallen fruit and fungi.

?Does the black-headed slug live in Estonia?

Yes. It has spread there from the Black Sea area along with many other European countries.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Krynickillus melanocephalus
Group
Snails, slugs and worms
Family
Agriolimacidae
Classification
Gastropoda > Stylommatophora > Agriolimacidae
Lives on
Asia, Europe

Where the facts come from

  1. Krynickillus melanocephalus (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 Jonas Roth. 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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