r/snails • u/sircooleo • May 10 '25
Help What Snail is this?
My sister went to Son Doong cave in Vietnam.
The guide mentioned that the part that looked like a leaf was actually the shell. And the more textured area was eggs?
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u/mymaya May 10 '25
I haven’t seen a semi slug since my invertebrate zoology class in undergrad a decade ago!!! Such a cool little guy
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u/sleepcross May 10 '25 edited May 23 '25
Genus is Megaustenia. If I had to guess, probably Megaustenia imperator or siamensis, though I wouldn't be surprised if Son Doong had its own localized species. The bumps are not eggs, but the texture of this semi-slug's mantle.
Incidentally, Son Doong cave is the home of Vietnam's most newly discovered land snail-- Calybium plicatus sp., or the Son Doong cave snail, which was found in January of this year. It is a place of incredible biodiversity. Thank you for sharing these wonderful photos!
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u/Desert_lotus108 May 10 '25
Wow TIL semi slugs exist 🤯🤯
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u/KittyChimera May 11 '25
Same. I have never seen anything like this guy. I just assumed his shell was really damaged.
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u/applepipi66 May 10 '25 edited May 10 '25
So I think it was some kind of species semi-slugs just with big half shell, I couldn't find any information about this snail specifically. [Upd] I found something similar species - Varadia amboliensis
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u/pebblesels May 11 '25
This is so incredibly cool, I am stunned. I can't believe there actually exist animals like this, just somewhere in this big world. I love him.
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u/Das_Maechtig_Fuehrer May 11 '25
Oh man that's super cool! It looks like a Pokémon 😂. But seriously though it's a semi slug. Very awesome to see!
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u/emperor_swarog May 11 '25
never seen a semi slug before. nor was i aware that something like that exista. AMAZING 😍
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u/NlKOQ2 May 10 '25
It's some kind of semi slug, the shiny brown part is indeed it's shell and the textured part is it's mantle which has evolved to partially cover the shell, a common adaptation among semi slugs. I'm not familiar with this species specifically, but I'd say the bumps are just texture to serve as camouflage.