Mary's Monday Metazoan: more slugs!

Yay, Aussie beasts! I see these lovely creatures near home from time to time.

A slug with its heart on its sleeve?

Wow, they look like china from the 1940s. Don't drop, little china!

Ick.

That is all.

There are three metazoans in that photo: two slugs and one milipede.

What a coincidence.

On a search for something else I came across this on snails.

http://www.annexia.org/tmp/hunkin-snails-large.jpg

If I have learned three new things this morning, can I go back to sleep for a while please ?

thank you kindly

Wow, I've never seen an animal look so...creamy.

Genus and species, anyone?

And just like that my desire to steal away the Trophy Wife disappeared.

Yuck!

Evolutian, they're Triboniophorus graeffei, Red Triangle Slugs. This photo was taken in our garden on the northern outskirts of Sydney, Australia.

Interestingly, the specimens found on the other side of our suburb (on the other side of a train line and a freeway) tend to be grey and rather warty in texture, whereas ours are white and smooth. Seems that there is some genetic variation afoot.

Those guys are awesome! So cool looking... and so sweet.

I thought I was looking in the mirror, but then I noticed there was no tree behind me.

I think those slugs are thinking Arby's... ;-) Almost looks like that logo...

Great picture...

Is that a peeping tom millipede?

Being Australian beasties, they must be poisonous. How far can they jump and how quickly will you die after they sting you?

The wonderful species* (one of our very few native slugs) occurs along the east coast. It comes in a variety of colour forms, including a red one on Mt Kaputar in northern NSW and a bright orange one from Mt Bellenden Ker in Queensland's Wet Tropics. (Not my photos but from the gallery associated with this blog.)

* Likely to be more than one.

I'm assuming those are pina-colada flavored with cherry centers.

They're beautiful! And the photo would look great on a Valentine's Day card!

A melted candy cane?

*09

Seems that there is some genetic variation afoot.

Does that imply the E word might be reasonably construed as a process in action Margaret?

I don't see enough visual referents to discern the scale here. How long are those creamy beasties?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EQtrW2 Yes, I know "I am the slime" reflects unfairly on the slugs, but it's what came to mind. And the local slugs seem mundane in comparison.

Much more of these explicit images of slimy spineless dickheads en flagrante, and the Australian NetNazis will put Pharyngula on their kill-list.

Those ones actually look tasty.

I find your recent emphasis on pulmonate gastropods...disturbing.

Awww the color is so pretty though! I wish our garden slugs were so aesthetic!

Dr. Myers,
Thank you so much for the two posts on slimy repulsive slugs.
That will suffice.

Wow, those are some strikingly beautiful slugs.

Even more awesomeness.

Slugs make my skin crawl. Huge, brightly-coloured slugs even more so. Bleugh.

Gorgeous!

"...If you go out barefoot
They will give your toes cold hugs:
Snails and slugs."

Forget who; someone I used to hear on Dr. Demento.

Those really are gorgeous.

"Evolutian, they're Triboniophorus graeffei, Red Triangle Slugs. This photo was taken in our garden on the northern outskirts of Sydney, Australia."
Well bugger me, I grew up in the northern suburbs of Sydney (Mt. Colah to be precise) and I've never seen anything like that in my life. Not even a grey one with those markings.

Maybe its just me but the red marking looks like a lipsticked mouth.

i'm torn. they look tasty (mmm.... glazed snail with cherry topping), but they're australian, so they're probably venomous and/or toxic

They may look nice, but tbh Nudibranch just leave them in the shade.

Lets have some Nudi pics PZ.

So in Australia the swans are black… and the slugs are white? Ew.

Being Australian beasties, they must be poisonous.

Even more so because they're white. I'm sure some agama or other would otherwise eat it.

en flagrante

In flagranti. Latin.

Pretty!!!

Nangelator #20, they get to around 8-10 centimetres.

Gra #32, We're only a wee bit north of there. But our garden does adjoin the National Park, so that might be why we have them.

Beeeautiful. I saw it in the other thread, but it's totally deserving of its own post.

Those two look so hot that other guy's trying to get in on the action (millipede).

Somebody pass the salt.

Beautiful photo! Those are so much prettier than we get in the Pacific Northwest!

Here's a bit about the red triangle slugs. http://www.faunanet.gov.au/wos/factfile.cfm?Fact_ID=44

"If given the chance, it will also remove bathroom mould."

Hey... that's cool! C'mon guys they're cooler than mold!

Those are the most gorgeous slugs I have ever seen! I admire the many and various colors of sea slugs, but my heart belongs to the land variety. I had no idea they were so beautiful in Australia. Aside from Arion Ater (introduced from Europe) most of our guys are small, inconspicuous and gray. The banana and leopard slugs are large but nowhere near as beautiful as those Australian fellows.

You know, some people (mostly biologists, I'm sure) actually like slugs.

Pffft. Love the slugs, Maggie (and hi!) but when it comes to slugs, nudie branches win hands down :)

Ooops: http://www.colourlovers.com/blog/2008/07/17/nudibranchs-the-most-colorf…

Here is a pic of a Nudi I took off the UAE coast a few months ago, if you notice it is in a state of coitus with it's friend attached to the back end.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56/benzonar/Dibba/nudi2.jpg

Sheesh, I come here for peace, quiet and science, and find everyone just slugging it out!