''Parmacella valenciennii'' 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 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 gastropod

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

Parmacellidae Parmacellidae is a family of air-breathing land slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks within the superfamily Parmacelloidea (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005). This family has no subfamilies (ac ...

Distribution

The distribution of ''Parmacella valenciennii'' includes: * Southern

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

(south of Lisboa), It is very abundant in Alentejo. *

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

* Isolated area(s) in southern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Description

The animal is brownish red to brownish olive, with black bands on the mantle. Adult specimens are lighter. The body is sharply keeled in the posterior section. The mantle length in young animals is about 3/4 of the body length. The mantle is rounded in the anterior part and pointed in posterior part. The animal is up to 100 mm long, usually 70–80 mm long and 20 mm in width. The

shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...

is yellow, triangular, fragile and flat, with 1.5

whorls A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs). Whorls in nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral ...

. The length of the shell is 15 mm, 9 mm in width and 2–3 mm high. ''Parmacella valenciennii'' differs anatomically from all other ''Parmacella'' species by a single, characteristically horn-shaped and almost straight accessory atrial appendix.

Ecology

''Parmacella valenciennii'' lives in stony open habitats, preferring shady and humid sites between plants and stones. The animals move slowly. There is a high abundance of these animals in the spring; the animals were so abundant that they were formerly used as pig food in southern Portugal.

References

This article incorporates public domain text from the reference."Species summary for ''Parmacella valenciennii''"

AnimalBase AnimalBase is a project brought to life in 2004 and is maintained by the University of Göttingen, Germany. The goal of the AnimalBase project is to digitize early zoological literature, provide copyright-free open access to zoological works, and pr ...

, accessed 1 September 2010. {{DEFAULTSORT:Parmacella Valenciennii Parmacellidae Gastropods described in 1836