Limax cinereoniger

Limax cinereoniger
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Heterobranchia
clade Euthyneura
clade Panpulmonata
clade Eupulmonata
clade Stylommatophora
informal group Sigmurethra
clade limacoid clade
Superfamily: Limacoidea
Family: Limacidae
Subfamily: Limacinae
Genus: Limax
Species: L. cinereoniger
Binomial name
Limax cinereoniger
Wolf, 1803
Synonyms[1]

Limax alpinus Férussac, 1822

Limax cinereoniger is a large species of air-breathing land slug in the terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk family Limacidae, the keelback slugs. This is the largest land slug species in the world.[2]

Distribution

This slug is native to Europe. It is recorded in most of Europe, including Bulgaria, Czech Republic (where it is of least concern),[3] Italy, Netherlands,[4] Slovakia, Great Britain, Ireland, Finland, and Ukraine,[5] and only missing in Scandinavia and in the extreme South.

Reproductive system of Limax cinereoniger:
pr - penial retractor muscle;
pe - penis;
at - atrium;
bc - bursa copulatrix;
ov - oviduct.

Description

With a maximum length exceeding 20 centimeters, this species is the largest land slug.[2]

Habitat

This species lives in woodlands and occasionally parks.

Parasites

Parasites of Limax cinereoniger include nematodes of genus Elaphostrongylus.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Nitz, B., et al. (2009). Towards a new standard in slug species descriptions: the case of Limax sarnensis Heim & Nitz n. sp. (Pulmonata: Limacidae) from the Western Central Alps. Journal of Molluscan Studies 75(3): 279-294. doi:10.1093/mollus/eyp030.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Limacidae. The Living World of Molluscs.
  3. ↑ Juřičková, L., et al. 2001. Check-list of the molluscs (Mollusca) of the Czech Republic. Acta Soc. Zool. Bohem. 65: 25-40.
  4. ↑ Limax. Stichting Anemoon.
  5. ↑ Balashov, I. & N. Gural-Sverlova. 2012. An annotated checklist of the terrestrial molluscs of Ukraine. Journal of Conchology. 41(1): 91-109.
  6. ↑ Olsson I., et al. (1993). Gastropod hosts of Elaphostrongylus spp. (Protostrongylidae, Nematoda). Rangifer 13(1): 53-55.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Limax cinereoniger.