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Sticker of Striped greenhouse slug
Bug card No. 4205 of 4,939

Striped greenhouse slug

Ambigolimax valentianus
Name means: “valentianus means from Valencia, because the first ones were found in gardens there”
Eats: PlantsSnails, slugs and wormsGardens and meadowsNo legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The striped greenhouse slug is a pinkish brown slug with two dark stripes along its back. It loves warm greenhouses and has travelled all over the world in them. In warm countries it has moved out into gardens too.

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
All over the world, especially in greenhouses; in warm places also outdoors
Length
8 cm (3.1 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 it, like after touching any wild animal.
What does it eat?
It eats plants, which is why it can be a pest in greenhouses.
For real!Photo of Striped greenhouse slug
Picture by Invertzoo. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Striped greenhouse slug about 8 cm long (3.1 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 2.5 toy building bricks in a rowneeds 3 minutes to cross a dinner table

How big is Striped greenhouse slug compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its slime is clear and watery.

2

Older slugs become more yellow, with fainter stripes but more blotches.

3

Most lay about 150 eggs in their life, but one slug laid 1510 eggs.

4

Its eggs cannot survive temperatures above 25 degrees for long.

5

To tell it apart from its close cousins for sure, scientists have to look inside its body.

you asked

Most asked questions about Striped greenhouse slug

?How big is the striped greenhouse slug?

It can grow up to about 8 centimetres long.

?Why is it called the greenhouse slug?

Because it loves warm greenhouses and has spread around the world in them.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Ambigolimax valentianus
Named by
Férussac, 1822
Group
Snails, slugs and worms
Family
Limacidae
Classification
Gastropoda > Stylommatophora > Limacidae
Lives on
Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa, Australia and Oceania

Where the facts come from

  1. Ambigolimax valentianus (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 Invertzoo. 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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