limax

Definitions

noun The typical genus of Limacidæ, formerly of great extent and heterogeneous composition, now restricted to the slugs which are without a caudal mucous pore, with a concealed quadrate non-spiral shell or limacel, and a smooth jaw.
noun [lowercase] In early systems of classification, as the Linnean, the animal or soft body of any univalve, considered apart from its shell, which latter was otherwise classified.

noun (Zoöl.) A genus of airbreathing mollusks, including the common garden slugs. They have a small rudimentary shell. The breathing pore is on the right side of the neck. Several species are troublesome in gardens. See slug.

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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According to Lewis and Short's large Latin dictionary, "limax" could refer to both snails and slugs.

Beasts and Bestiaries: a book about how they used to illustrate animals AYDIN 2009
The term would denote either a limax or a helix, which are particularly noticeable for the slimy track they leave behind them, by which they seem to waste themselves away.

Smith's Bible Dictionary 1884
In spite of adhering to most of the informal rules of this genre, however, which include alternating comedy with scenes of dramatic tension and suspense and and surprisingc limax, Condon ends up by thumbing his nose at most of these conventions and, for the last third of the book, it is clearly out-and-outt ragedy that he is writing rather than comedy.

Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium - Recent changes [en] 2009
_limax maximus_ or garden slug, known to science -- to omit from their calculations the fact that they are likely every day to receive a large number of visitors, whom they will be obliged to keep waiting; and that these people will require somewhere to wait.

Jill the Reckless 1928