teenager who also for a bet ate a slug and ended up with brain damage

Oh my. That's just terrible. When you are a parent you worry about just such stories. The young can be so foolish. No way to protect them from themselves.

Thank you for reading and commenting. I did find this insect fascinating. The insect world is all around us, with infinite variety and most times we (not you) don't appreciate the significance of that. As an entomologist, you can never run out of topics to write about :))

Summer here is wilting everything--I still prefer it to winter :) Hope you are faring well this season.

Take care,

Your friend, AG