Kerry slug
The Kerry slug is a shiny slug covered with lots of little yellow spots, like a night sky full of stars. It can be dark grey, black or brown. It lives only in a few rainy, mossy corners of Europe.
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Fun facts
Slugs in open places are usually black, and slugs in woods are usually brown, so they match their home.
It gets its darker colour from light while it is growing up.
It can stretch itself to about 12 centimetres to squeeze into narrow cracks.
It is protected by law in Ireland, Spain and Portugal.
It is mostly out at night, but in Ireland it also comes out on cloudy days.
Most asked questions about Kerry slug
?What does the Kerry slug eat?
Lichens, mosses, liverworts and fungi on rocks and tree trunks.
?How big is the Kerry slug?
A grown-up is about 7 to 8 centimetres long.
?Where does the Kerry slug live?
Only in southwest Ireland and in northwest Spain and Portugal.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Geomalacus maculosus
- Named by
- Allman, 1843
- Group
- Snails, slugs and worms
- Family
- Arionidae
- Classification
- Gastropoda > Stylommatophora > Arionidae
- Lives on
- Europe
- Also known as
- Kerry spotted slug
Where the facts come from
- Kerry slug (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by jacinta lluch valero from madrid * barcelona...., (España-Spain). CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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