A St. David's resident has discovered what could be "an unclassified species of terrestrial mollusc" in his backyard. A trail of ants led Alan Gordon to the dead animal, which he describes as a cross between a snail and a slug.

"The creature in question is neither a slug nor a snail as defined by the Royal British Columbia Museum, instead sharing characteristics of both in ways which disqualify it from either category," he said. "It is approximately two-and-a-half inches in length, and, like a snail, it has a complete shell from end to end.

"Unlike a snail however, the shell is not spiralled and the creature is straight, and not curved. While slugs are straight, their shell has de-evolved over time, so that any external vestige of it is virtually trivial.

"This may in fact be a mutant snail suffering from a birth defect which prevented the shell from spiralling, or alternatively, it may be an entirely unclassified species bridging the evolutionary gap between snail and slug. DNA testing would probably be required in order to make such a determination."

Mr. Gordon said he was advised to preserve the creature in alcohol overnight.

It has been forwarded to the Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo to accurately discover whether it is a new species or not. The dead creature was found in the bed of one of Mr. Gordon's six cats. The animal lover's attention was drawn to the mollusc by the trail of ants leading to it.

Asked for a potential name for the creature if it is identified as a new species, Mr. Gordon joked: "A friend of mine suggested it be called a snug, a cross between a snail and a slug. "But now that I think about it, I hope it will be named after Maxey (Brangman) and Freddie (Gilbert), near whose former home it was found just three weeks after their murders."