Limacus
| Limacus | |
|---|---|
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| Limacus flavus | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Order: | Stylommatophora |
| Family: | Limacidae |
| Genus: | Limacus Lehmann, 1864[1] |
| Type species | |
| Limacus breckworthianus Lehmann, 1864 | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Limacus is a genus of air-breathing land slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Limacidae, the short-keeled slugs.[2]
Taxonomy
[edit]There remains a difference of opinion whether Limacus should be its own genus or a subgenus of Limax. A 2026 molecular phylogeny[3] indicated that Limacus and Limax form sister clades (forming a polytomy together with Turcomilax), so both treatments are equally valid. Formerly, if Limacus was considered a subgenus of Limax, Limacus maculatus had to be known as Limax ecarinatus (because another species was formerly known under the name Limax maculatus),[4] but a ruling by the ICZN has now made Limax maculatus correct.[5]
Species
[edit]Two extant species are known and one fossil.
- Limacus flavus (Linnaeus, 1758), the type species;[6] synonyms = Limax flavus Linnaeus, 1758; Limacus breckworthianus Lehmann, 1864
- Limacus maculatus (Kaleniczenko, 1851); synonyms = Limax maculatus (Kaleniczenko, 1851), Limax ecarinatus Boettger, 1881; Limax grossui Lupu, 1970; Limax pseudoflavus Evans, 1978
- † Limacus crassitesta (Reuss, 1868)
The two extant species are hard or impossible to distinguish on external characters, so identification relies on a character of the genital anatomy, requiring dissection. They are large slugs up to 130 mm long, yellowish with mottled darker markings and blue-grey tentacles.[8] Like other limacid slugs they have a pointed tail, and the pneumostome is in the hind part of the mantle. Genetic information suggests that the species may hybridise.[9] Both species have spread from their native ranges in southern Europe and Asia, with L. flavus occurring worldwide as a synanthrope.[10][11]
References
[edit]- ↑ Lehmann, R. (1864). "Neue Nacktschnecken aus Australien". Malakozoologische Blätter. 11: 145–149.
- ↑ MolluscaBase Eds. "Limacus Lehmann, 1864". Molluscabase. Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 20 March 2026.
- ↑ Hutchinson, J.M.C.; Schlitt, B.; Reise, H. (2026). "Ambigolimax, Lehmannia and other limacid slugs (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora); what their DNA tells us about phylogeny, taxonomy and phylogeography". Journal of Molluscan Studies. 92 (1) eyaf031. doi:10.1093/mollus/eyaf031.
- ↑ Welter-Schultes, F.W. (2013). Guidelines for the capture and management of digital zoological names information. Version 1.1. Copenhagen: Global Biodiversity Information Facility. p. 65. ISBN 978-87-92020-44-4.
- ↑ ICZN (2016). "Opinion 2375 (Case 3639) Krynickillus maculatus Kaleniczenko, 1851 (currently Limax maculatus; Gastropoda, Stylommatophora, Limacidae): specific name conserved". The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 73 (1): 61–62. doi:10.21805/bzn.v73i1.a10.
- ↑ AnimalBase info at: Genus taxon summary for Limacus. AnimalBase, accessed 10 August 2009.
- ↑ Turóci, Á.; Hutchinson, J.M.C.; Schlitt, B.; Reise, H.; Rapala, M.; Páll-Gergely, B. (2023). "Five new introduced terrestrial slugs in Hungary". BioInvasions Records. 12 (3): 711–729. doi:10.3391/bir.2023.12.3.08.
- ↑ Rowson, B.; Turner, J.; Anderson, R.; Symondson, B. (2014). Slugs of Britain and Ireland. Identification, understanding and control. Telford, UK: FSC Publications/National Museum of Wales. ISBN 978-1908819130.
- ↑ Rowson, B.; Anderson, R.; Turner, J.A.; Symondson, W.O.C. (2014). "The slugs of Britain and Ireland: undetected and undescribed species increase a well-studied, economically important fauna by more than 20%". PLoS ONE. 9 (4) e91907. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0091907. PMC 3989179.
- ↑ Langeraert, W.; van de Haar, P.G.; Margry, K. (2021). "The green cellar slug Limacus maculatus (Kaleniczenko, 1851) (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Limacidae) new for the Netherlands". Basteria. 85 (1): 6–12.
- ↑ Herbert, D.G. (2010). The introduced terrestrial Mollusca of South Africa. SANBI Biodiversity Series 15 (PDF). Pretoria: South African National Biodiversity Institute. ISBN 9781919976563.