Animal field guide
Semi-slug
Parmarion martensi
A semi-slug: part way between snail and slug, it carries a small, thin shell partly covered by the mantle on its back, far too small to retreat into. With so little shell to carry, the soft, tapering body can climb plants and walls and squeeze into narrow crevices.
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Get AnimalDexSemi-slug at a glance
Marine invertebrate · Southeast Asia · Damp · Relatively common
Known for: Mantle forms a raised hump over the middle of the, Pale yellowish to tan body, Tail ends in a raised point above a mucus pore, Body roughly 3 to 5 cm long when extended
Animal field guide
Semi-slug
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A semi-slug: part way between snail and slug, it carries a small, thin shell partly covered by the mantle on its back, far too small to retreat into. With so little shell to carry, the soft, tapering body can climb plants and walls and squeeze into narrow crevices.
Native range
Natural range, not this capture location
Damp, shaded ground and low vegetation in warm, humid lowlands: forest edges, gardens, plantations and farmland, often around fallen fruit, leaf litter and rotting wood.
Search near meAnimalDex stats
Dominance
2
Speed
3
Size
3
Intelligence
4
Rarity
28%
Total
40
Size scale
STEP 2 · PROVE IT
STEP 3 · BATTLE & FUSE
Understand the animal
Understand the Semi-slug
Factual biology first: what this animal is like, where it lives, how it survives, and why those traits exist.
01
Introduction to Semi-slug
A semi-slug: part way between snail and slug, it carries a small, thin shell partly covered by the mantle on its back, far too small to retreat into. With so little shell to carry, the soft, tapering body can climb plants and walls and squeeze into narrow crevices.
How to identify a Semi-slug
- Mantle forms a raised hump over the middle of the back
- Pale yellowish to tan body, often with a darker mantle
- Tail ends in a raised point above a mucus pore
- Body roughly 3 to 5 cm long when extended
Why Semi-slug are interesting
- It is an important host of rat lungworm, and a person who swallows an infected slug hidden on unwashed produce can develop a form of meningitis.
- It is thought to have reached Hawaii by the 1990s, and has since spread widely on the wet eastern side of Hawaii island.
- Surveys in Hawaii have found the rat lungworm parasite in a large share of the semi-slugs tested, in some samples more than half.
- The species name is generally taken to honour the German malacologist Eduard von Martens.
02
Adaptations and biological abilities
03
Why does Semi-slug behave this way?
- Mantle forms a raised hump over the middle of the back
- Pale yellowish to tan body, often with a darker mantle
- Tail ends in a raised point above a mucus pore
- Body roughly 3 to 5 cm long when extended
Active at night and during wet weather. Through dry daylight hours it rests under leaves, logs, stones and in crevices where the air stays moist.
04
Why Damp?
Habitat: Damp, shaded ground and low vegetation in warm, humid lowlands: forest edges, gardens, plantations and farmland, often around fallen fruit, leaf litter and rotting wood.
Native range: Southeast Asia
Native range
Natural range, not this specific capture location.
Damp, shaded ground and low vegetation in warm, humid lowlands: forest edges, gardens, plantations and farmland, often around fallen fruit, leaf litter and rotting wood.
05
Why this diet?
A generalist grazer that rasps at living and decaying plants, fruit, fungi and algae, and also eats animal droppings.
06
Activity, rest, and lifespan
Active at night and during wet weather. Through dry daylight hours it rests under leaves, logs, stones and in crevices where the air stays moist.
Parmarion martensi has no measured lifespan on record; only a reduced shell plate remains under the mantle ridge.
07
Semi-slug reproduction
After mating, adults lay clutches of round, translucent eggs in damp soil or leaf litter. The young hatch as miniature adults, each already carrying a tiny shell.
Every adult has both male and female reproductive organs, so there are no separate sexes to tell apart.
08
Predators, threats, and defense
Its predators have not been studied closely; ground beetles, toads, birds and small mammals are the likely enemies. It avoids them chiefly by staying hidden in damp cover while it is light.
09
Conservation and rarity
Rarity: Relatively common · 28/100. AnimalDex canonical rarity score: 28/100, maintained by the live indexed species profile.
- Observe from a respectful distance and avoid changing the animal's behavior.
- Do not block feeding, shelter, nesting, or travel routes.
- Use a live camera capture without handling or staging wildlife.
Speak to the animal
Speak to the Semi-slug
It answers as itself: ask about how it lives, or bring it something of yours and hear what it would do, from its own Power.
Anonymous: 3/day. Signed-in: 10/day. Pro: 100/day.
Compare
Compare the Semi-slug
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Battled in the Arena
No one has taken a Semi-slug into an Arena battle yet. Battles players fight with this animal in the AnimalDex app show up here.
Where to find them
Where to find Semi-slug
To find Semi-slug in the wild, focus on the exact habitat patches that match its body design and daily behavior, not just the broad country where it exists. You usually do better by working one good piece of habitat inside southeast Asia than by covering too much ground.
- Forest edge, canopy gaps, fruiting trees, or shaded trails where cover and food meet
- Headlands, reef edges, island colonies, tidal channels, or productive coastal water
- Protected habitat blocks within southeast Asia
Scientific name
Parmarion martensi
Category
Marine invertebrate
Habitat
Damp, shaded ground and low vegetation in warm, humid lowlands: forest edges, gardens, plantations and farmland, often around fallen fruit, leaf litter and rotting wood.
Rarity
Relatively common · 28/100
Native range
Southeast Asia
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