''Limax amaliae'' is a species of 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

Limacidae Limacidae, also known by their common name the keelback slugs, are a taxonomic family of medium-sized to very large, air-breathing land slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Limacoidea. Distribution The distr ...

, the keelback slugs. So far, it has not been adequately investigated and is therefore an unsafe species

Etymology

The species was named after Mrs. Amalia Marangoni Maj from Pavia. She had her own literary club in Pavia, which among others hosted the young Albert Einstein as a violinist.

Taxonomy

The taxon was first described by Eugenio Bettoni in 1871 as Limax Da-Campi var. amaliae. The holotype came from Lambrate near Milan. Lambrate is now a district of Milan and is completely overbuilt. In the “Natura Mediterraneo” forum, however, photos of two specimens of this species were recently presented. One specimen was found near Giussago (province of Pavia), close to the border with the metropolitan city of Milan, the other specimen near Paullo (metropolitan city of Milan).Natura Mediterraneo - ''L. amaliae near'' Paullo
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Description

''Limax amaliae'' shows a thin, somewhat irregular white central line. The body is deep black to greyish black. The mantle is less dark. On the longitudinally three-parted sole, the marginal areas are bluish-gray, while the middle one is pale. The back has very strong, heavily pleated longitudinal folds and furrows. The anatomy is not yet known.

Distribution

The species has only become known from a small area in the vicinity of Milan and the neighboring province of Pavia (Italy).

Biology

So far nothing is known about the way of life, especially about the copulatory behavior so important for the taxonomy of Limax species.

External links

A photo

Bibliography

*Alzona, C. 1971: Malacofauna Italica. Catalogo e bibliografia dei molluschi viventi,terrestri e d'acqua dolce. - Atti Soc. ital. Sci. nat., Mus. Civ. St. Nat., Milano, 111: 1–433.: Lombardia . dacampoi menegazzii amaliae Bettoni 1870*Bettoni, Eugenio 1871: Sul Limax Da-Campi, note malacologiche. Bullettino Malacologico Italiano, 3(5): 161–166, pls.3,4

References

{{taxonbar, from=Q1767526 * This article has been expanded using, inter alia, material based on a translation of an article from the Deutsch Wikipedia, by the same name. Limacidae Gastropods described in 1870