''Letourneuxia nyctelia'' is a species of terrestrial

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

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 ...

mollusc 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 esti ...

, belonging to the family

Arionidae Arionidae, common name the "roundback slugs" or "round back slugs" are a taxonomic family of air-breathing land slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Arionoidea. Distribution The distribution of this family of slug ...

Taxonomy

For many years this species was known as ''Letourneuxia numidica'', described by Bourguignat from Algeria. The other species of ''Letourneuxia'' were synonymised with ''L. numidica'' by

Wiktor Wiktor may refer to: *Andrzej Wiktor (1931–2018), Polish malacologist *Wiktor Andersson (1887–1966), Swedish film actor *Wiktor Balcarek (1915–1998), Polish chess player *Wiktor Biegański (1892–1974), Polish actor, film director and screen ...

. These included ''Letourneuxia moreleti'', which Castillejo considered instead to be a species of '' Geomalacus'' (criticised by ). In 2022 it was proposed that Bourguignat's 1861 description of ''Limax nyctelius'' referred to a juvenile of the same species that he described five years later as ''Letourneuxia numidica''. The forward position of the

pneumostome The pneumostome or breathing pore is a respiratory opening of the external body anatomy of an air-breathing land slug or land snail. It is a part of the respiratory system of gastropods. It is an opening in the right side of the mantle of a ...

is not known in any other North African species, and the stripes match. So the name of this species has now become ''Letourneuxia nyctelia'' (Bourguignat, 1861). The

lectotype In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...

has been designated as the specimen in the illustration referred to in the original species description.

Distribution and ecology

The species is known only from Algeria and Morocco. It has been found mostly in woodland and scrub. Limax nyctelius Bourguignat 1862

Morphology

Maximum length is 65 mm. As with other arionids, the

is in the front part of the mantle and the tail is rounded without a keel. The colour is tawny brown with darker longitudinal stripes along the back and side. The sole is divided into three parts, with the central part only a third the width of each side part. There is an internal shell plate. Unlike in the other arionid genera ''

Arion Arion (; grc-gre, Ἀρίων; fl. c. 700 BC) was a kitharode in ancient Greece, a Dionysiac poet credited with inventing the dithyramb. The islanders of Lesbos claimed him as their native son, but Arion found a patron in Periander, tyrant ...

'' and '' Geomalacus'', an

epiphallus The reproductive system of gastropods (slugs and snails) varies greatly from one group to another within this very large and diverse taxonomic class of animals. Their reproductive strategies also vary greatly, see Mating of gastropods. In many mar ...

is lacking. Like with ''Geomalacus'', the chromosome number is n = 31.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q113039072 Arionidae Taxa named by Jules René Bourguignat Gastropods described in 1861