Leopard slug
The leopard slug is a big grey slug covered in dark spots and blotches, a bit like a leopard. It can grow as long as a pencil. It has no shell on its back, only a tiny hidden one under the skin.
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Fun facts
Its scientific name means biggest slug.
Hidden under the skin on its back is a tiny flat shell, only about 13 millimetres long.
Two leopard slugs can meet in a very special way: they hang together in the air from a branch on a thick rope of slime.
Its slime has no colour but shimmers a little, like a soap bubble.
Outside Europe it was first found in the American city of Philadelphia in 1867.
Most asked questions about Leopard slug
?How big is a leopard slug?
A grown-up leopard slug is about 10 to 20 centimetres long.
?Is the leopard slug dangerous?
No. It cannot bite or sting and is harmless to people.
?Does a leopard slug have a shell?
Yes, but a very small one, hidden inside its body under the skin of its back.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Limax maximus
- Group
- Snails, slugs and worms
- Family
- Limacidae
- Classification
- Gastropoda > Stylommatophora > Limacidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa, North America
- Also known as
- Great grey slug
Where the facts come from
- Limax maximus (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 Michal Maลas. CC BY 2.5, 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 [email protected] and we will fix it.
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