''Deroceras praecox'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of small 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 ...

, a

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 ...

in the family Agriolimacidae.

Taxonomy

When Wiktor (1966) described ''D. praecox'' he distinguished two forms on the basis of their genitalia. Later Wiktor (1973) realised that one of the forms of ''D. praecox'' that he had distinguished was synonymous with '' Deroceras rodnae'', described slightly earlier by Grossu & Lupu (1965). But the other form with a spiral end to its penis occupied a distinct range in the Sudeten mountains and neighboring areas; this is what is called ''D. praecox'' nowadays. It remains debatable whether ''D. praecox'' might be better viewed as a subspecies of ''D. rodnae'' ( Hutchinson & Reise, 2009). Note that the distinct differences in mating behaviour between ''D. praecox'' and ''D. rodnae'' that Reise (1995) reported turn out to refer to differences between ''D. praecox'' and a more distant species, '' Deroceras juranum'' ( Hutchinson & Reise, 2009).

Description

The coloration of the body of this slug is usually snowy white or off-white mottled with grey ( Wiktor, 2000). The head and tentacles are brownish. However, colour is often a misleading guide and identification should be based on dissection. Even within a site ''D. praecox'' may co-occur with other species that are indistinguishable externally ( Reise & Hutchinson, 2001). ''Deroceras praecox'' is distinct in having a spiral pocket at the end of its penis .

Distribution

This species occurs in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

. It is not listed in the

IUCN red list The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

- and thus is not evaluated (NE) It occurs in: *

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

- near threatened (NT)Juřičková L., Horsák M. & Beran L., 2001: Check-list of the molluscs (Mollusca) of the Czech Republic. Acta Soc. Zool. Bohem., 65: 25-40. *

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

A closely related form of uncertain taxonomic status occurs in the uplands south of Dresden, Germany ( Hutchinson & Reise, 2009). This slug occurs in woodland.

References

* * * * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1200306 Agriolimacidae Gastropods described in 1966