I know it’s not a tropical slug but simply too beautiful, so I had to share it.

Bielzia coerulans
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Bielzia coerulans

Bielzia coerulans
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Heterobranchia
clade Euthyneura
clade Panpulmonata
clade Eupulmonata
clade Stylommatophora
informal group Sigmurethra
clade limacoid clade
Superfamily: Limacoidea
Family: Limacidae
Subfamily: Limacinae
Genus: Bielzia
Clessin, 1887[1]
Species: B. coerulans
Binomial name
Bielzia coerulans
M. Bielz, 1851[2]
Synonyms[3]
Limax coerulans Bielz, 1851
Limax schwabi Frauenfeld, 1864
Bielzia coerulans, commonly known as the Carpathian blue slug or simply the blue slug, is a species of very large land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod in the family Limacidae, the keelback slugs.
Contents [hide]
1 Taxonomy
2 Distribution
3 Description
4 Ecology
5 References
6 External links
[edit]Taxonomy

Bielzia coerulans was discovered and described under name Limax coerulans by Austrian-Hungarian malacologist Michael Bielz (1787-1866) in 1851. (His son Eduard Albert Bielz was also malacologist.)
Bielzia coerulans is the only species in the genus Bielzia.[4]
Some authors, for example Russian malacologists,[3] classify genus Bielzia as the only genus (monotypic) within separate family Limacopsidae Gerhardt, 1935.[5][3] There has been also created separate subfamily Bielziinae I. M. Likharev & Wiktor, 1980 for genus Bielzia.
According to the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005) are Limacopsidae and Bielziinae synonyms for Limacinae.[6]
[edit]Distribution

This species is endemic to the Carpathian Mountains in Eastern Europe.
The type locality of Bielzia coerulans is South Carpathians in Romania.[3]
Czech Republic – in Moravia only, vulnerable (VU) in Moravia[7][8]
southern Poland[4]
Slovakia[9]
Ukraine[3]
Romania[3]

adults of Bielzia coerulans are blue

juveniles of Bielzia coerulans are brown
[edit]Description

This is a slug which is blue when adult and 100 – 140 mm in length.[10] Slug evenly blue or bluish green (occasionally black) with dark greyish head and tentacles, margins pale yellowish, sole pale yellowish or whitish.[10]
Juveniles are yellowish brown with dark lateral bands.[10]
Reproductive system: Genitalia are without penis.[10] There is only an accessory organ for the copulation.[10]
[edit]Ecology

Bielzia coerulans inhabits deciduous and coniferous forests in mountains, usually at the bottom, or under dead wood logs.[10]
Maturity is in June to July.[10] Copulation occur at the soil.[10] There are 30-80 eggs laid in one clutch.[10] Adults die after egg deposition.[10] Half grown juveniles hibernate.[10] Fully grown slugs appear in May.[10]
[edit]References

This article incorporates public domain text from the reference [10].
^ (German) Clessin S. (1887). “Die Molluskenfauna Österreich-Ungarns und der Schweiz”. pp. 1-858. Nürnberg. (Bauer & Raspe). page 47.
^ (German) Bielz M. (1851). “Verzeichniss der Land- und Süsswasser-Mollusken Siebenbürgens”. Verhandlungen und Mittheilungen des Siebenbürgischen Vereins für Naturwissenschaften in Hermannstadt 2: 14-16, 55-59, 62-65. (Limax coerulans is on the page 14.)
^ a b c d e f Kantor Yu I., Vinarski M. V., Schileyko A. A. & Sysoev A. V.(published online on December 22, 2009). “Catalogue of the continental mollusks of Russia and adjacent territories”. Version 2.3.
^ a b (Polish) Wiktor A. (1989). Limacoidea et Zonitoidea nuda. Slimaki pomrowioksztaltne (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora). Fauna Poloniae 12, Polska Akademia Nauk, Warszawa, 208 pp., page 178-181.
^ (German) Gerhardt U. (16 July 1935). “Weitere Untersuchungen zur Kopulation der Nacktschnecken”. Zeitschrift für Morphologie und Ökologie der Tiere 30(2): 297-332. Page 329.
^ Bouchet P., Rocroi J.-P., Frýda J., Hausdorf B., Ponder W., Valdés Á. & Warén A. (2005). “Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families”. Malacologia: International Journal of Malacology (Hackenheim, Germany: ConchBooks) 47 (1-2): 1–397. ISBN 3925919724. ISSN 0076-2997.
^ Juřičková L., Horsák M. & Beran L. (2001). “Check-list of the molluscs (Mollusca) of the Czech Republic”. Acta Soc. Zool. Bohem. 65: 25-40.
^ “Red List of the molluscs (Mollusca) of the Czech Republic”. accessed 9 September 2010.
^ Lisický M. J. (1991). Mollusca Slovenska. Veda, Bratislava: 1-341.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m “Species summary for Bielzia coerulans”. AnimalBase, last modified 29 October 2009, accessed 9 September 2010.

The url and some pictures can be found here:Friedrich

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bielzia_coerulans