Limacidae, also known by their
common name the keelback slugs, are a
taxonomic family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
of medium-sized to very large, air-breathing land
slugs,
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 gastropod molluscs in the superfamily
Limacoidea.
Distribution
The distribution of the family Limacidae is the western
Palearctic.
There are 28 species of Limacidae in Russia and adjacent countries.
Anatomy
In this family, the number of
haploid chromosome
A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...
s lies between 21 and 25 and also lies between 31 and 35 (according to the values in this table).
[Barker G. M.: Gastropods on Land: ''Phylogeny, Diversity and Adaptive Morphology''. in Barker G. M. (ed.): ]
The biology of terrestrial molluscs
'. CABI Publishing, Oxon, UK, 2001, . 1-146, cited pages: 139 and 142.
Taxonomy
2002 taxonomy
Zhiltsov & Schileyko (2002)
[ Zhiltsov S. S. & Schileyko A. A. (2002). "Morphology of reproductive system of ''Bielzia coerulans'' (Gastropoda, Pulmonata) and phylogenetic relations of the genus ''Bielzia''". ''Ruthenica'' 12: 73-79]
abstract
elevated the subfamily Bielziinae to family level, Bielziidae, based on the morphology of the
reproductive system
The reproductive system of an organism, also known as the genital system, is the biological system made up of all the anatomical organs involved in sexual reproduction. Many non-living substances such as fluids, hormones, and pheromones are als ...
of ''
Bielzia coerulans''.
2005 taxonomy
The following two
subfamilies were recognized in
the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005):
* subfamily Limacinae Lamarck, 1801 - synonyms: Limacopsidae Gerhardt, 1935; Bielziinae I. M. Likharev & Wiktor, 1980
* subfamily
Eumilacinae I. M. Likharev & Wiktor, 1980
Genera
Genera in the family Limacidae include:
subfamily Limacinae
* ''
Limax
''Limax'' is a genus of air-breathing land slugs in the terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk family Limacidae.
The generic name ''Limax'' literally means "slug".
Some species, such as the leopard slug (''L. maximus'') and the tawny garden ...
'' Linnaeus, 1758
- type genus of the family Limacidae
* ''
Limacus'' Lehmann, 1864; sometimes considered a subgenus of ''Limax''
* ''Bielzia'' Clessin, 1887 - with the only species ''
Bielzia coerulans'' M. Bielz, 1851. Some authors, for example Russian malacologists,
classify genus ''Bielzia'' within separate family Limacopsidae.
* ''
Caspilimax'' P. Hesse, 1926
[Kantor Yu I., Vinarski M. V., Schileyko A. A. & Sysoev A. V.(published online on December 22, 2009). "Catalogue of the continental mollusks of Russia and adjacent territories"]
Version 2.3.
/ref>
* '' Caucasolimax'' Likharev et Wiktor, 1980[Wiktor A., Quintana J. & Beckmann K.-H. (2007). "Redescription of "''Limax majoricensis''" (Heynemann 1863) (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Limacidae) from the Balearic Islands. pp. 187-197. In: Beckmann K.-H.: ''Die Land- und Süßwassermollusken der Balearischen Inseln''. ConchBooks, Hackenheim, 255 pp., .]
* '' Lehmannia'' Heynemann, 1862[Marshall, B. (2015). ''Ambigolimax'' Pollonera, 1887. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=819989 on 2015-04-15]; sometimes considered a subgenus of ''Lehmannia''
* '' Limacopsis'' Simroth, 1888
* '' Malacolimax'' Malm, 1868
Cladogram
A cladogram
A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ...
showing the phylogenic
In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...
relationships of this family to other families within the limacoid clade
The Limacoidei is a taxonomic infraorder of air-breathing land snails, semislugs and slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the suborder Helicina
Distribution
The original ancestral area of limacoid families is thought to b ...
:[Hausdorf B. (2000). "Biogeography of the Limacoidea sensu lato (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora): Vicariance Events and Long-Distance Dispersal". '' Journal of Biogeography'' 27(2): 379-390. ]
JSTOR
Ecology
Parasites of slugs in this family include larva
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
...
e of the marsh flies Sciomyzidae
The family Sciomyzidae belongs to the typical flies (Brachycera) of the order Diptera. They are commonly called marsh flies, and in some cases snail-killing flies due to the food of their larvae.
Here, the Huttoninidae, Phaeomyiidae and Tetan ...
, and others.
References
External links
Slugs of Florida
on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
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