Hemphillia

Hemphillia
Hemphillia glandulosa
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Heterobranchia

clade Euthyneura
clade Panpulmonata
clade Eupulmonata
clade Stylommatophora
informal group Sigmurethra

Superfamily: Arionoidea
Family: Arionidae
Genus: Hemphillia
Bland & Binney, 1872[1]

Hemphillia is a genus of air-breathing land slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Arionidae, the roundback slugs.

The generic name Hemphillia is in honor of an American malacologist Henry Hemphill (1830–1914).

At least some species of this genus are known as jumping slugs due to their behavior when threatened. At such times, they "jump" by coiling up and straightening out repeatedly in rapid succession.[2][3]

Species

Species in the genus Hemphillia include:[4]

References

  1. Bland T. & Binney W. G. (1874). "Description of Hemphillia, a new Genus of Terrestrial Mollusks". Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York. 10: 208-211. Plate 9.
  2. http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/washington/explore/the-secret-lives-of-jumping-slugs.xml
  3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVj991ExTwQ
  4. COSEWIC (2003). COSEWIC assessment and status report on the dromedary jumping-slug Hemphillia dromedarius in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. vi + 21 pp. http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/virtual_sara/files/cosewic/sr_dromedary_jumping_slug_e.pdf