''Atopos'' is a genus of carnivorous air-breathing

land slug Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a smal ...

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

pulmonate Pulmonata or pulmonates, is an informal group (previously an order, and before that a subclass) of snails and slugs characterized by the ability to breathe air, by virtue of having a pallial lung instead of a gill, or gills. The group includ ...

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

s in the family

Rathouisiidae Rathouisiidae is a family of carnivorous air-breathing land slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Veronicelloidea, the leatherleaf slugs and their allies. This family has no subfamilies according to the ''Taxonomy of ...

Species

Species within the genus ''Atopos'' include: * ''Atopos aborense'' (Ghosh, 1913) *'' Atopos australis'' Heynemann, 1876 *''Atopos cristagalli'' P. Sarasin & F. Sarasin, 1899 *''Atopos galeatus'' Simroth, 1920 *''Atopos harmeri'' Collinge, 1902 * '' Atopos kempii'' Ghose, 1913Liew T.-S. & Schilthuizen M. (2014). "Association between shell morphology of micro-land snails (genus ''Plectostoma'') and their predator’s predatory behaviour". ''PeerJ'' 2: e329. . *''Atopos leuckarti'' Simroth, 1891 * '' Atopos laidlawi'' Collinge, 1902 * '' Atopos maximus'' Collinge 1903 * '' Atopos ouwensi'' Collinge, 1908 * '' Atopos prismatica'' Tapparone-Canefri, 1883 *''Atopos pristis'' P. Sarasin & F. Sarasin, 1899 * '' Atopos punctata'' Collinge, 1902 * '' Atopos rugosus'' Collinge, 1902 *''Atopos sanguinolentus'' Ghosh, 1912 * '' Atopos sarasini'' Collinge 1902 Laidlaw F. F. (1940). "Notes on some specimens of the genus ''Atopos'' (Mollusca Pulmonata) with microphotographs illustrating points in the anatomy of the genus". '' The Bulletin of the Raffles Museum'' 16: 121-132
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. *''Atopos schildii'' Babor, 1900 *''Atopos scutulatus'' P. Sarasin & F. Sarasin, 1899 * '' Atopos semperi'' Simroth, 1891 *''Atopos simrothi'' P. Sarasin & F. Sarasin, 1899 *''Atopos smithi'' (Collinge, 1902) *''Atopos strubelli'' Simroth, 1891 *''Atopos tourannensis'' (Eydoux & Souleyet, 1852) Synonyms: * ''Atopos leonina'' (Heude, 1882) is a synonym of ''

Rathouisia leonina ''Rathouisia leonina'' is a species of carnivorous air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Rathouisiidae. This species is endemic to China. This slug is carnivorous and actively preys on snails. It is usu ...

'' Heude, 1882

Distribution

The predatory carnivorous slugs in the genus ''Atopos'' are found in peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, New Guinea, northeast Australia and, recently, Singapore.

Feeding habits

Bornean ''Atopos'' specialising in '' Opisthostoma'' are known to tailor their approach to the size of the prey. They hold small snails with the shells aperture-upward with the front of its foot and eat their way down. Larger ones scrape away the shell to allow access through the spire. This behaviour is thought to drive the evolution of shell ornamentation in ''Opisthostoma''.Tan S. K. & Chan S-Y. (2009). "New records of predatory slugs from Singapore with notes on their feeding behaviour". ''Nature in Singapore'' 2: 1-7
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References

External links

photo of predating by ''Atopos''
(figure b) {{Taxonbar, from=Q3693707