Meadow Slug
Deroceras laeve
This species is unusually hardy; it can survive being frozen solid in ice and remains active at temperatures near freezing.
- Scientific name
- Deroceras laeve
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Mollusca › Gastropoda › Stylommatophora › Agriolimacidae › Deroceras
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- wetland
- Habitat
- Marshes, wet meadows, riverbanks, and damp gardens.
- Diet
- Decaying vegetation, fungi, algae, and tender seedlings.
- Range
- North America, Europe, Asia, South America
- Size
- 1.5 to 2.5 cm in length
- Lifespan
- Under 1 year
- Active
- nocturnal
- Threats
- Habitat dehydration, molluscicides (slug pellets), and heavy agricultural tilling.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless to humans. Avoid handling with dry hands to protect its moisture; do not use salt as it is lethal. Wash hands after contact as slugs can carry parasites like lungworm.
Deroceras laeve , the marsh slug , is a species of small air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Agriolimacidae.
Photo: no rights reserved, CC0, via iNaturalist
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