Editing Snail (section)

==Slugs==
{{Main article|Slug}}
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[[File:Slug 02.jpg|thumb|Slug]]
[[Gastropods]] that lack a conspicuous shell are commonly called [[slug]]s rather than snails.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.diffen.com/difference/Slug_vs_Snail|title=Slug vs Snail - Difference and Comparison - Diffen|access-date=29 March 2018}}</ref> Some species of slug have a maroon-brown shell, some have only an internal [[Vestigiality|vestige]] that serves mainly as a calcium lactate repository, and others have some to no shell at all. Other than that there is little [[Morphology (biology)|morphological]] difference between slugs and snails. There are however important differences in habitats and behavior.

A shell-less animal is much more maneuverable and compressible, so even quite large land slugs can take advantage of habitats or retreats with very little space, retreats that would be inaccessible to a similar-sized snail. Slugs squeeze themselves into confined spaces such as under loose bark on trees or under stone slabs, logs or wooden boards lying on the ground. In such retreats they are in less danger from either predators or desiccation. Those are often suitable places for laying their eggs.

Slugs as a group are far from [[Monophyly|monophyletic]]; scientifically speaking "slug" is a term of convenience with little taxonomic significance. The reduction or loss of the shell has evolved many times independently within several very different lineages of gastropods. The various taxa of land and sea gastropods with slug morphology occur within numerous higher taxonomic groups of shelled species; such independent slug taxa are not in general closely related to one another.<ref>{{Cite web |title=TUATARA: VOLUME 25, ISSUE 2, JANUARY 1982 HOW TO BE SLUGGISH |url=https://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/webarchive/20210104000423/http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Bio25Tuat02-t1-body-d2.html |access-date=2024-12-27 |website=ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz}}</ref>