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Sticker of Darkface arion
Bug card No. 1305 of 4,939

Darkface arion

Arion distinctus
Eats: PlantsSnails, slugs and wormsGardens and meadowsNo legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The darkface arion is a small garden slug with no shell. It is yellowish or brownish with dark stripes along its sides and dark feelers. Its slime under the foot is yellow or orange, so its belly looks orange.

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, northern and central Europe, and taken by people to North America, Africa, Asia and New Zealand
Length
4 cm (1.6 in)
Top speed
about 0.03 km/h (0.02 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Wash your hands after holding a slug, like after touching any wild animal.
What does it eat?
It eats plants, and farmers and gardeners count it as a pest.
For real!Photo of Darkface arion
Picture by Michal Maňas. CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Darkface arion about 4 cm long (1.6 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 7 grains of rice in a rowneeds 2 minutes to cross a dinner table

How big is Darkface arion compared to YOU?

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

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

When it stretches out, it is never longer than about 4 centimetres.

2

For a long time people thought it was the same slug as a very similar one. In the 1970s an amateur slug fan named Stella Davies found out they were different.

3

It hides by day under wood, stones, clods of soil and fallen leaves.

4

Its eggs take about 27 days to hatch when it is cool.

5

In captivity, it only had babies when it had another slug of its own kind for company.

you asked

Most asked questions about Darkface arion

?Is the darkface arion dangerous?

No, it is harmless to people. Gardeners just do not like it eating their plants.

?How big is the darkface arion?

Up to about 4 centimetres long when it stretches out.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Arion distinctus
Named by
Mabille, 1868
Group
Snails, slugs and worms
Family
Arionidae
Classification
Gastropoda > Stylommatophora > Arionidae
Lives on
Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, Australia and Oceania
Also known as
Brown soil slug, Common garden slug, Mabille's orange-soled slug, April slug

Where the facts come from

  1. Arion distinctus (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 Michal Maňas. CC BY 2.5, 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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