slug
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slug,
name for a terrestrial gastropodgastropod,member of the class Gastropoda, the largest and most successful class of mollusks (phylum Mollusca), containing over 35,000 living species and 15,000 fossil forms.
..... Click the link for more information. mollusk in which the characteristic molluscan shell is reduced to a thin plate embedded in the tissues. Like the terrestrial snails of the same order, slugs have a distinct head with a mouth, tentacles bearing eyes, and a lung for breathing air. They move on a muscular foot over a trail of slime which they secrete. Certain species, such as Limax maximus, have become serious pests in gardens and truck farms, particularly in the W United States. Gliding out to feed at night, they devour both the roots and aerial portions of plants with their rasplike radula. Terrestrial slugs are classified in the phylum MolluscaMollusca
, taxonomic name for the one of the largest phyla of invertebrate animals (Arthropoda is the largest) comprising more than 50,000 living mollusk species and about 35,000 fossil species dating back to the Cambrian period.
..... Click the link for more information. , class Gastropoda, order Stylommatophora.
Slug
any one terrestrial mollusk of the subclass Pulmonata of the order Stylommatophora that lacks an external shell but has rudiments of a shell in the form of a calcareous plate or grains inside the mantle. The body is wormlike or cylindrical. There are approximately 100 species in the USSR, most of which belong to the families Arionidae and Limacidae. During the day, slugs hide in damp and shaded places, for example, under stones and forest litter or in hollows or cracks in soil. The animals are active at twilight and during the night when the temperature is 8°–20°C and there is adequate moisture.
Many slugs are injurious to vegetables, tobacco, and other crops. The most dangerous pests are Agriolimax reticulatus, which occurs in the western and northwestern regions of the USSR, and slugs of the genus Parmacella (for example, P. ibera), which are found in the subtropics (Caucasus and Middle Asia). Control measures include draining farmland and pastures, destroying weeds, removing crop residue from gardens and orchards, applying limacides, and surrounding valuable plantings with ditches containing slug repellents (mazut, copper sulfate, ash). Removal of the slugs by hand is also effective. Some slugs serve as intermediate hosts of helminths that infest farm animals.
I. M. LIKHAREV [23–1674–]