Slug Animal

Slugs are direct relatives of snails — basically snails without a shell. They are legless, delicate bodied animals with four front limbs, two that convey the eyes and two that work like radio wires. Slugs likewise have a covering of disgusting bodily fluid all around their bodies. Notwithstanding the bodily fluid outwardly of the body, when slugs travel they emit bodily fluid from the pedal organ, situated at the front finish of the creature (South 1992). This bodily fluid guides in slug velocity and leaves behind a trademark "sludge trail" that can be an important hint of their essence. Various species change in shading and example, yet all are different earth tones like dark, brown, or orange. Again differing by species and age, slugs can go in size from a couple of millimeters to a few centimeters.

The term slug does not characterize an ordered gathering, but instead a nonscientific assortment that includes members of various groups of snails, both marine and terrestrial. Most ordinarily, the term slug is applied to air-breathing area species. 

Slug Classification

• Kingdom - Animalia

• Phylum - Mollusca

• Class - Gastropoda

• Superorder - Heterobranchia

• Order - Pulmonata

Slug Animal: Description

"Slug" or "ocean slug" additionally is utilized for some marine species, practically all of which have gills. The biggest gathering of marine shell-less gastropods or ocean slugs is the nudibranchs. There are also numerous different gatherings of ocean slug, for example, the heterobranchus ocean butterflies, ocean holy messengers, and ocean bunnies, just as the truth be told, remotely related, pelagic, caenogastropoda ocean slugs, which are inside the superfamily Carinarioidea. There is even an air-breathing ocean slug, Onchidella. 

Tentacles - Like other pulmonate land gastropods, most of the land slugs have two sets of 'antennae' or Tentacles on their head. The upper pair is light detecting and has eyespots at the finishes, while the lower pair gives the feeling of smell. The two sets are retractable. 

Mantle -  On top of the slug, behind the head, is the seat formed mantle, and under this are the genital opening and rear-end. On one side (quite often the right-hand side) of the mantle is a respiratory opening, which is not difficult to see when open, however hard to see when shut. This opening is known as the pneumostome. 

Tail - The piece of a slug behind the mantle is known as the 'tail'. 

Keel - Some types of slugs, for instance, Tandonia budapestensis, have a noticeable edge running over their back along the center of the tail. This edge is known as a 'Keel'. 

Foot -  The base side of a slug, which is level, is known as the 'foot'. Like practically all gastropods, a slug moves by musical floods of strong withdrawal on the underside of its foot. It at the same time secretes a layer of bodily fluid that it goes on, which forestalls harm to the foot tissues. Around the edge of the foot in certain slugs is a design called the 'foot periphery'. 

Vestigial Shell -  Most slugs hold a leftover of their shell, which is generally disguised. This organ by and large fills in as a capacity for calcium salts, regularly related to the stomach related organs. An interior shell is available in the Limacidae and Parmacellidae. Grown-up Philomycidae, Onchidiidae and Veronicellidae need shells.

Slug Animal: Reproduction

Slugs are bisexuals, having both female and male reproductive organs. When a slug has found a mate, they enclose one another and sperm is transferred through their protruded genitalia. A couple of days after mating, the slugs lay around thirty eggs in an opening in the ground, or underneath the front of an article like a fallen log. 

Apophallation, the biting off of the phallus, has been accounted for just in certain types of banana slug (Ariolimax) and one type of Deroceras. In the banana slugs, the phallus at times becomes caught inside the body of the partner. Apophallation permits the slugs to isolate themselves by either of the slugs biting off the other's or its own phallus. When the phallus has been disposed of, banana slugs are as yet ready to mate utilizing just the female pieces of the regenerative framework.

Slug Animal: Food and Feeding Habits

Most types of slugs are generalists, feeding on an expansive range of natural materials, including leaves from living plants, lichens, mushrooms, and even remains. A few slugs are predators and eat different slugs and snails, or worms. 

Slugs can feed on a wide assortment of vegetables and spices, including blossoms like petunias, chrysanthemums, daisies, lobelia, lilies, daffodils, narcissus, gentians, primroses, tuberous begonias, hollyhocks, irises, and organic products, for example, strawberries. They additionally feed on carrots, peas, apples, and cabbage that are offered as a sole food source. 

Slugs from various families are fungivores. It is the case in the Philomycidae (e.g. Philomycus carolinianus and Phylomicus flexuolaris) and Ariolimacidae (Ariolimax californianus), which individually feed on sludge molds (myxomycetes) and mushrooms (basidiomycetes). Types of mushroom creating growths utilized as a food source by slugs include milk-covers, Lactarius spp., the clam mushroom, Pleurotus ostreatus and the penny bun, Boletus edulis. 

Different species relating to various genera, like Agaricus, Pleurocybella and Russula, are additionally eaten by slugs. Slime molds utilized as a food source by slugs include Stemonitis axifera and Symphytocarpus flaccidus. A few slugs are specific towards specific parts or formative phases of the organisms they eat, however, this is truly a factor. Depending upon the species and different elements, slugs eat just growths at explicit phases of advancement. In addition, in different cases, entire mushrooms can be eaten, with no choice or inclination towards ontogenetic stages.

Slug Animal: Predators

Slug Mollusks are preyed upon by virtually every major vertebrate group. With numerous examples among reptiles, birds, well-evolved creatures, creatures of land and water and fish, vertebrates can infrequently benefit from, or be particular hunters of slugs. Fish that feed on slugs include the earthy coloured trout (Salmo trutta), which every so often benefits from Arion circumscriptus, an arionid slug. Reptiles that feed on slugs include basically winds and lizards. Some colubrid snakes are known hunters of slugs. Seaside populaces of the fastener snake, Thamnophis elegans, have a specific eating routine consisting of slugs, like Ariolimax, while inland populaces have a summed up diet. 

The redbelly snake (Storeria occipitomaculata) and the earthy coloured snake (Storeria dekayi) feed mostly yet not exclusively on slugs, while a few animal types in the family Dipsas, Sibynomorphus (for example Sibynomorphus neuwiedi) and the normal slug eater snake (Duberria lutrix), are only slug eaters. A few reptiles remember slugs for their diet. Birds that go after slugs include normal blackbirds (Turdus merula), starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), rooks (Corvus frugilegus), jackdaws (Corvus monedula), owls, vultures and ducks. Well evolved creatures that eat slugs include foxes, badgers and hedgehogs. Beetles in the family Carabidae, for example, Carabus violaceus and Pterostichus melanarius, are known to feed on slugs.

Parasites and Parasitoids

Slugs are parasitised by a few living beings, including acari and a wide variety of nematodes. The slug bug, Riccardoella limacum, is known to parasitise a few dozen types of molluscs, including many slugs such as Agriolimax agrestis, Arianta arbustrum, Arion ater, Arion hortensis, Limax maximus, Milax budapestensis, Milax gagates, and Milax sowerbyi. R. limacum can regularly be seen swarming about their host's body and live in its respiratory depression. 

A few types of nematodes are known to parasitise slugs. The nematode worms Agfa flexilis and Angiostoma limacis separately live in the salivary organs and rectum of Limax maximus. Types of widely known medical importance relating to the class Angiostrongylus are additionally parasites of slugs. Both Angiostrongylus costaricensis and Angiostrongylus cantonensis, a meningitis-causing nematode, have larval stages that can just live in molluscs, including slugs, for example, Limax maximus. 

Insects such as dipterans are known parasitoids of molluscs. To complete their development, numerous dipterans use slugs as hosts during their ontogeny. A few types of blow-flies (Calliphoridae) in the species Melinda are known parasitoids of Arionidae, Limacidae and Philomycidae. Flies in the family Phoridae, uniquely those in the variety Megaselia, are parasitoids of Agriolimacidae, including numerous types of Deroceras. House flies in the family Muscidae, fundamentally those in the sort Sarcophaga, are facultative parasitoids of Arionidae.

Slug Animal: Behavior

When attacked, slugs can get their body, making themselves harder and more minimized all the more still and round. By doing this, they become firmly attached to the substrate. This, joined with the dangerous bodily fluid they produce, makes slugs harder for hunters to get a handle on. The terrible taste of the bodily fluid is additionally a hindrance. Slugs can likewise cripple hunters through the creation of an exceptionally tacky and versatile bodily fluid, which can trap hunters in the emission. A few animal varieties present diverse reaction practices when attacked, for example, the Kerry slug. 

In contrast to the general behavioral pattern, the Kerry slug withdraws its head,  lets go of the substrate, moves up totally, and stays contracted in a ball-like shape. This is a one of a kind component among all the Arionidae and among most different slugs. A few slugs can self-cut off (autotomy) a part of their tail to help the slug escape from a predator. Some slug animal groups rest underground throughout the colder time of year in mild environments, however, in different species, the grown-ups pass on in the fall. 

Intra- and interspecific agonistic behavior is recorded, however, fluctuates incredibly among slug species. Slugs frequently resort to aggression, attacking the two conspecifics and individuals from different species while competing for resources. This forcefulness is likewise affected via irregularity, in light of the fact that the availability of resources, for example, shelter and food might be compromised because of climatic conditions. Slugs are prone to attack throughout the summer when the availability of resources is decreased. During winter, the forceful reactions are substituted by gregarious behavior.

Types of Slugs

Of the six sets of Pulmonata, two – the Onchidiacea and Soleolifera – exclusively involve slugs. A third family, the Sigmurethra, contains different clades of snails, semi-slugs and slugs. The scientific categorization of this gathering is currently being updated considering DNA sequencing. It gives the idea that pulmonates are paraphyletic and basal to the opisthobranchs, which are a terminal part of the tree. The family Ellobiidae are additionally polyphyletic.

The Subinfraorders, superfamilies, and families are:

• Sub Infraorder Orthurethra

• Superfamily Achatinelloidea Gulick, 1873

• Superfamily Cochlicopoidea Pilsbry, 1900

• Superfamily Partuloidea Pilsbry, 1900

• Superfamily Pupilloidea Turton, 1831

• Subinfraorder Sigmurethra

• Superfamily Acavoidea Pilsbry, 1895

• Superfamily Achatinoidea Swainson, 1840

• Superfamily Aillyoidea Baker, 1960

• Superfamily Arionidae J.E. Gray in Turnton, 1840

• Superfamily Athoracophoroidea

• Family Athoracophoridae

• Superfamily Orthalicoidea

• Subfamily Bulimulinae

• Superfamily Camaenoidea Pilsbry, 1895

• Superfamily Clausilioidea Mörch, 1864

• Superfamily Dyakioidea Gude & Woodward, 1921

• Superfamily Gastrodontoidea Tryon, 1866

• Superfamily Helicoidea Rafinesque, 1815

• Superfamily Helixarionoidea Bourguignat, 1877

• Superfamily Limacoidea Rafinesque, 1815

• Superfamily Oleacinoidea H. & A. Adams, 1855

• Superfamily Orthalicoidea Albers-Martens, 1860

• Superfamily Plectopylidoidea Moellendorf, 1900

• Superfamily Polygyroidea Pilsbry, 1894

• Superfamily Punctoidea Morse, 1864

• Superfamily Rhytidoidea Pilsbry, 1893

• Family Rhytididae

• Superfamily Sagdidoidera Pilsbry, 1895

• Superfamily Staffordioidea Thiele, 1931

• Superfamily Streptaxoidea J.E. Gray, 1806

• Superfamily Strophocheiloidea Thiele, 1926

• Superfamily Parmacelloidea

• Superfamily Zonitoidea Mörch, 1864

• Superfamily Quijotoidea Jesús Ortea and Juan José Bacallado, 2016

• Family Quijotidae