A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name snail is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have a coiled shell that is large enough for the animal to retract completely into. When the word "snail" is used in this most general sense, it includes not just land snails but also numerous species of sea snails and freshwater snails. Gastropods that naturally lack a shell, or have only an internal shell, are mostly called slugs, and land snails that have only a very small shell are often called semi-slugs.
Sea slug is a common name for some marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial slugs. Most creatures known as sea slugs are actually gastropods, i.e. they are sea snails that over evolutionary time have either completely lost their shells, or have seemingly lost their shells due to having a greatly reduced or internal shell. The name "sea slug" is most often applied to nudibranchs, as well as to a paraphyletic set of other marine gastropods without obvious shells.
The mantle is a significant part of the anatomy of molluscs: it is the dorsal body wall which covers the visceral mass and usually protrudes in the form of flaps well beyond the visceral mass itself.
Laevicaulis alte, the tropical leatherleaf, is a species of tropical land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Veronicellidae, the leatherleaf slugs.
Notaspidea, also known as the sidegill slugs, is an artificial grouping of sea slugs which is now split into two unrelated groups, the Umbraculida and the Pleurobranchomorpha.
A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. Land snail is the common name for terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells. However, it is not always easy to say which species are terrestrial, because some are more or less amphibious between land and fresh water, and others are relatively amphibious between land and salt water.
Philomycidae are a family of air-breathing land slugs. They are terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Arionoidea.
Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word slug is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a small internal shell, particularly sea slugs and semislugs.
Columella edentula, common name the "toothless column snail", is a species of very small, air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk or micromollusk in the family Truncatellinidae.
Phyllidia babai is a species of sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusk in the family Phyllidiidae.
Parafossarulus manchouricus is a species of freshwater snail with gills and an operculum, an aquatic prosobranch gastropod mollusk in the family Bithyniidae.
John Bayard Burch was an American zoologist, a biology professor at the University of Michigan, and the Curator of Mollusks at the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. His research interests are broad, and have encompassed not only the anatomy, systematics, and genetics of mollusks, but also various aspects of zoogeography and parasitology. He has engaged in extensive fieldwork around the world, usually collecting mollusks, especially freshwater and terrestrial species. Some samples taken in Tahiti in 1970 have proven to be of importance in efforts to conserve vanishing kinds of the land snail Partula.
Meghimatium is a genus of medium to large air-breathing land slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Philomycidae and the superfamily Arionoidea, the roundback slugs.
Chromodoris orientalis is a species of colourful sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Chromodorididae. Sea slugs are generally very beautifully colored organisms with intense patterns and ranging in sizes. The Chromodoris orientalis specifically is a white sea slug with black spots in no particular pattern with a yellow, orange, or brown in color ring around its whole body and on its gills. There is much discussion on where it is found, what it eats, how it defends itself without a shell, and its reproduction methods. This is all sought after information because there is not much known about these animals.
Meghimatium burchi is a species of small air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Philomycidae and the superfamily Arionacea, the roundback slugs. Its body length is around 12 to 16.5 mm.
Pallifera is a genus of air-breathing land slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Philomycidae.
Semisulcospira libertina is a species of freshwater snail with an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Semisulcospiridae. Widespread in east Asia, it lives in China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and the Philippines. In some countries it is harvested as a food source. It is medically important as a vector of clonorchiasis, paragonimiasis, metagonimiasis and others.
