Oregon Department of Agriculture guides
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Start here: Slug or Snail? 

Slugs have: 
  • no visible shell or a small shell that cannot contain their body.
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Continue to slugs
Snails have:
  • a coiled shell that can contain most or all of their body.
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Continue to snails

 

Slugs

Parts of a slug

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Common slug identification key

With visible shell
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Without visible shell
1. Pneumostome in anterior half of mantle
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2. Pneumostome in middle or posterior half of mantle.
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Slugs with anterior pneumostomes

1. No line where tail can be shed. Caudal pore present. Body tubercles uneven, ovoid in shape with no apparent pattern. 
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Arion, roundback slugs
2. ​Line where tail can be shed (can be difficult to see). This can be an impressed line or indicated by a change in the skin texture. No caudal pore. Body tubercles typically diamond shaped in diagonal rows. 
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Prophysaon, tail droppers
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