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Project Noah Nature School
Ibycus rachelae
A beautiful green coloured snail/slug with yellowish bumps/tubercles. This Slug was first discovered from high altitude mountain forest of around 1,900 masl in Sabah, Borneo and described in the year 2008. The Slug sports a tail that's three times the length of its head, which it wraps around its 1.6-inch-long (4 cm) body as if a pet cat. In fact, its discoverers initially planned to name the Slug Ibycus felis, after its feline inspiration. Instead, they named it after the girlfriend of one of its discoverers, Menno Schilthuizen of the Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity 'Naturalis.'
High altitude tropical forest.
The Slug was given its common name; Ninja Slug as there's more to the name than meets the eye: The slug species makes use of so-called love darts. Made of calcium carbonate, the love dart is a harpoon-like structure that pierces and injects a hormone into a potential mate. The dart could increase the slug's chances of reproduction.
I just can't believe how wonderful it is to actually spot one of these in nature! This is amazing @AlbertKang, congratulations!
Congratulations on your SOTW Albert! Wonderful shots. Thank you for sharing :)
Congratulations on the well-deserved SOTW Albert. Great shot of an unusual species.
Thanks, @MichaelS, @Ornithoptera80, @Saturniidae27, @Sergio, @Jae, @Neil, @Antonio, @Single D and @Leua - for your kind words and appreciations :)
Wow,great find Albert,awesome slug,congrats on the well deserved SOTW and thanks for sharing
Hi Albert,
Your Ninja Slug spotting has been voted Spotting of the Week.
Thank you for sharing fascinating photos of a special and unique slug of the Borneo rainforest with the Project Noah community!
https://www.facebook.com/projectnoah/pho...
https://twitter.com/projectnoah/status/1...
Wow - this is a fascinating spotting and the information is really interesting!
Your spotting has been nominated for the Spotting of the Week. The winner will be chosen by the Project Noah Rangers based on a combination of factors including: uniqueness of the shot, status of the organism (for example, rare or endangered), quality of the information provided in the habitat and description sections. There is a subjective element, of course; the spotting with the highest number of Ranger votes is chosen. Congratulations on being nominated!
How do you find these weird and wonderful creatures Albert ? Everything about this slug is fascinating. Thanks for sharing this & your great notes. I wonder if he feels like a rough avocado...
Thanks, @Leuba for your kind words and appreciation.
I guess spending lots of hours in the field and sometimes, getting lucky. Most of the stuff were seen during night walks where those critters are more likely to be out in the open.
How do you find these weird and wonderful creatures Albert ? Everything about this slug is fascinating. Thanks for sharing this & your great notes. I wonder if he feels like a rough avocado...
Spotted on Oct 9, 2017
Submitted on Jun 17, 2020
