Just the word “slug” disgusts people. A nasty, rather vile, formless slippery creature immediately appears before my eyes, which always creeps somewhere.
Does nature really have no reason that she was able to bring into the world such an animal, which is useless to nothing? To find the answer, you should study in more detail what characterizes the large roadside slug, the photo of which is now in front of your eyes. Having become acquainted with the description of the slug, a person will have an idea of what the appearance of this creature is, what lifestyle it leads, where its habitats are located.
Large roadside (or leopard) slug: appearance
Representatives of this species are the largest of all types of large slugs. In different parts of the world, these mollusks were imported from Europe, which is their homeland. A large roadside slug is a clam of the pulmonary snail squad. His body consists of one leg, which merges with the head of the slug and is called the sole. The body length of the mollusk reaches from 10 to 20 cm. Sometimes the body of the animal grows to 30 cm. It is wrinkled, somewhat rounded, pointed at the end of the back.
The body of the slugs is symmetrical on both sides. From above it is covered with the so-called mantle in the form of a plate. Under it are the reproductive organs and the anus. On the tail is a keel.
The color of the slug is found from light gray to chestnut, sometimes it is yellowish-white or ashen. The entire trunk of a large roadside slug is covered with black spots and stripes. This “cute” creature has very long tentacles. Their mucus is colorless.
Internal structure
On the back, under the skin of the mollusk, a shell is visible, which, like all other slugs, is strongly reduced. The shell is white in color, resembling an oblong oval in shape, its length is 13 mm and its width is 7 mm. It is believed that healing substances are stored there. This shell has been known since ancient times and used for medicinal purposes.
The digestive system of the leopard slug consists of the radula, pharynx, esophagus and intestines. In the intestines, four sections are connected to the liver, and the other two simply hang freely inside the body.
At first glance, this slug is reminiscent of a very simple creature, but it has a nervous system that consists of ganglia. Each ganglion has its own place: the pedal one lies under the radula, the abdominal one is slightly to the right of the midline, and the visceral ganglia are defined in the middle between the esophagus and the reed shell.
Habitat
The habitats of the large roadside slug cover large areas. The habitat is located in humid and temperate climatic zones. Slugs live only in biotopes with sufficient moisture. For them, a very comfortable habitat is the litter of deciduous forest.
Slugs are native to Australia, New Zealand, and North America. They are also found in Western and Central Europe, in the Caucasus, where their favorite places are fields, meadows, forests, gardens and caves.
Big roadside slug: how to feed
These mollusks are herbivorous; when choosing food, they are not too whimsical. While being kept in a terrarium, they should be provided with vegetables, fruits and mushrooms. Separately, you need to dwell on what the large roadside slug eats in places of natural residence.
The main food of mollusks is considered vegetation. Leopard slug feeds on fallen leaves, flowers, fruits and soft stems of living plants. Sometimes mushrooms are present in his diet. Although these slugs eat a lot, showing gluttony, if necessary, they can live without food for about 60 days, while being in a humid place.
Large roadside slug: reproduction
This species, like all slugs, has a hermaphroditic reproductive system. Each individual has genitals that correspond to gender. Sexual products become mature with a time difference. First, sperm maturation occurs. She presents packaged spermatophores. Then begins the secretion of mucus in males. This substance is endowed with a smell by which the slug finds its relative.
The marriage ceremony in large roadside slugs occurs in a very unusual way. Mollusks hang on the mucous threads head down, their bodies are woven into a single glomerulus by the genitals. Since the blue penises of slugs reach a large length, it is not always possible to unravel the mating pairs. In this case, some individuals resort to at least and bite off the genital organ, which grows after a while.
After fertilization, the mollusk lays eggs in the ground, on average, one adult can lay 30 to 70 large eggs. Their development occurs within 21–35 days, after which small slugs are born. They reach puberty after 60 days. These animals live no longer than two years.
Economic value. Damage Caused
For nature, slugs bring some benefit, being orderlies. They are able to process leaves fallen from trees, making them humus. But most of all, these mollusks, including the large roadside slug, cause quite noticeable damage to agriculture.
These voracious creatures cause especially great harm to potatoes by eating tubers and foliage of the plant. Cauliflower and white cabbage, various lettuce, root vegetables, young vegetable plants, as well as fruits of strawberries, tomatoes and cucumbers suffer from the invasion of slugs. Vineyards and whole citrus plantations are affected by this pest.
Much less damage is caused by the large roadside slug in the following crops:
- Red cabbage.
- The roots and leaves of parsley.
- Onion and garlic.
- Crops of barley and oats.
Spring wheat, flax and buckwheat almost do not feel the invasion of slugs. In addition to the fact that mollusks voraciously destroy crops, they are also carriers of fungal and viral diseases. Among these pests is a large roadside slug. Description of these diseases, which include spotting cabbage, late blight of potato and downy mildew, makes it possible to once again verify the harmfulness of the slug. In this regard, the question arises, how can one get rid of such a nasty enemy?
Methods and methods of dealing with slugs
Before you know what effective methods of dealing with slugs exist, you need to study and use all available preventive measures in time. First of all, it is necessary to ensure that the plots have a large number of natural enemies of slugs. These include hedgehogs, frogs and toads.
In addition, around the site you need to make a trench, and also sprinkle it with sand, needles, lime and crushed eggshells. Such a barrier slugs will be forced to bypass. The plants on the beds should be kept free from weeds and thinned out on time.
You can fight slugs by collecting them with your hands. For this, pieces of wet bark or heaps of mowed grass are laid out between the plants at night, under which the pest will hide. In the morning, calmly manually starting the collection of a pest called "large roadside slug." How to get rid of it, people know many ways, one of them is catching mollusks with a can of beer, which in this case serves as a bait for slippery uninvited guests.
If the above methods failed to get rid of slugs and mass reproduction of pests has already begun, you will have to use chemical preparations. Currently, a new generation of products has appeared that do not pose any danger to the surrounding nature.
Interesting Facts
Do you know which animal on the planet ranks first among the toothy? Perhaps this is very interesting to everyone. Although surprising, the most toothy creature that is not a predator is a large roadside slug. His tongue has about 30 thousand teeth! This grater tongue helps the slug grind all the foods it eats and make big holes in them .
It can be concluded that among toothy individuals there are not only large predators, but also mollusks, which are among the smallest representatives of the animal world.