Maui Slug Fest

Maui Slug Fest

Maui Slug Fest

We were tracking Veiled Chameleons with small telemetry transmitter held onto their body with litte mini halters.  On signal we kept getting eminated from a large clump of tropical hibiscus.  On the way up to the signal on the larvae, I was stepping on the ubiquous volacanic soiil.  Finally, one of the workers just above me spotted it firt.  All cool.  So I was on the ground crouching, when I saew a small pile of what looked like “an animal deposit,” if you know what I mean!  But then, the pile moved- one part of it tumbled.  What the. . .so made it over the pile with headlamp on high.  Here, on dry volcanic rock,  windy, was a large group of strange slugs.  I had never seen a slug shpaed like this before (that is on land, not in the sea).  Almost black as a base color, they had a central line running down the dorsum.  In this species, the antennae, moth and eyes are protected under a small hood. . .and these parts are rarely seen.  Slugs are snails,- the shell has been reduced or is absent.  They are all hermaphroditic, possessing both male and female organs.  In the case of these creatures, the antennae were not easily seen, yet the apparatus on the ventral side of the slug for movement was there, so at least I knew what it was.  Its body form is really slug in one aspect, but then so un-slug-like when watched for a bit.  They seem to converge on food items (hibiscus flowers), they somehow know how to find fallen food.  They are so slow, that searching doesn’t make sense to me.   Granted I haven’t paid much attention to the photos, but maybe I should now.  Someone had to see these giant, flat slugs.  Our pulmonate team here, always playing that shell game on break, is going to have a slug-fest when they hear that I located these photos!!  Slip/Sliding away- NG.