Ghost slug
| Ghost slug |
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| Scientific Classification |
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| Binomial Name |
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Selenochlamys ysbryda |
The Ghost slug has been given the scientific name Selenochalamys ysbryda. "Ysbryd" is the Welsh word for "ghost". A new species of this carnivorous slug has been discovered in Wales, United Kingdom in 2006. Ben Rowson, a research assistant and PhD candidate at the National Museum Wales, named the species in 2008.
Anatomy
Ghost slugs are 6 or 7 cm or about 2 inches in size.[1] They are entirely white, looking rather like a banana slug. These slugs are eyeless, and they have a set of sharp teeth which it uses to kill earthworms at night.[2] They have two pairs of tentacles on their head; the upper pair of optical tentacles are used for being light sensors, while the lower pair provides the sense of smell. It has the saddle-shaped mantle behind its head and under this are the genital opening and anus. The right side of the mantle is a respiratory opening.[3] They move by rhythmic waves of muscular contraction on the underside of its foot. Most slug's bodies are made mostly water and are most active after rain. This type of creature is usually found in Turkey and Georgia.[4]
Reproduction
Slugs are hermaphroditic, which means that they have both female and male reproductive organs. Often the slugs follow another slugs mucus trail and then they circle around each other. The slugs move closer together and the genitalia make contact. Sperm is transferred in the form of spermatophores. The spermataphore passes to the spermatheca where the outer layer is digested and the sperm released. Some of it pass to the hermaphrodite duct where it fertilizes the eggs. Between mating and egg laying period is 8-10 days. Normally 30 eggs are produced in holes in the ground.[5]
Ecology
The ghost slugs live underground, squeezing its flexible body into cracks or tunnels to get at earthworms, which it detects by smell of taste. Most slugs eat dead leaves, fungus, and decaying vegetable material but ghost slugs hunt and eat earthworms or other slugs at night with their sharp teeth, sucking them in like spaghetti.[6] The predators of ghost slugs are frogs, toads, snakes, hedgehogs, salamanders, eastern box turtles, humans, birds, and beetles.[7]
More about the slugs
Most of the slugs are harmless to people, and thus are able to be kept as a pet. Normally they can live up to 10-15 years. The slugs like a damp environment between 21-23 °C (70-74 °F). Every slug needs a lot of calcium and calcium powders or liquid are relatively easy to find in a shop. The best way to find a ghost slug is to look under plants, stones or in a garden.[8]
References
- Ghost slug wikipedia member, wikipedia, Animals described in 2008.
- Ghost slug Written by S.E. Smith , wisegeek.com, 2003 - 2008.
- snails, slugs OSU, 2007.
