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Sticker of Yellow-bordered taildropper
Bug card No. 4891 of 4,939

Yellow-bordered taildropper

Prophysaon foliolatum
Eats: PlantsSnails, slugs and wormsForests and woodsNo legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The yellow-bordered taildropper is a slug from North America. It is dull brown, but it has a bright yellow line around the shield on its back. That yellow border is how you can tell it apart from its look-alike cousins.

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
Western North America, from Alaska to Oregon
Top speed
about 0.03 km/h (0.02 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?
Like other slugs, it feeds on soft things it finds on the damp ground, such as plants and fungi.
For real!Photo of Yellow-bordered taildropper
Picture by Anna. CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

A very similar slug lives in the same area, but it has no yellow border.

2

In Canada there is a kind that is almost black, but it still has its bright yellow border.

3

White albino ones have been spotted on the Olympic coast in Washington.

you asked

Most asked questions about Yellow-bordered taildropper

?Is the yellow-bordered taildropper dangerous?

No. It is a harmless slug.

?How do you recognise a yellow-bordered taildropper?

Look for a brown slug with a yellow line around the shield on its back.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Prophysaon foliolatum
Group
Snails, slugs and worms
Classification
Gastropoda > Stylommatophora
Lives on
North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Prophysaon foliolatum (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 Anna. CC0, 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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