''Prophysaon'',

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

taildropper slugs, is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

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 ...

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 ...

s in the family

Ariolimacidae Ariolimacidae is a family of air-breathing land slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Arionoidea (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005). Subfamilies and genera The family Ariolimac ...

. MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Prophysaon Bland & W.G. Binney, 1873. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=995729 on 2021-08-26 These slugs can self-amputate (

autotomy Autotomy (from the Greek language, Greek ''auto-'', "self-" and ''tome'', "severing", wikt:αὐτοτομία, αὐτοτομία) or self-amputation, is the behaviour whereby an animal sheds or discards one or more of its own appendages, usual ...

) a portion of their tail.Rory J. Mc Donnel, Timothy D. Paine & Michael J. Gormally. 2009.
Slugs: A Guide to the Invasive and Native Fauna of California
''. 21 pp., . page 9 This autotomy has been observed in the species '' Prophysaon andersoni''.

Distribution

This genus of slugs occurs in North America, including California and Oregon.

Species

Species in the genus ''Prophysaon'' include 10 species (9 according to Turgeon et al. 1998 plus one known undescribed species): * '' Prophysaon andersoni'' (J. G. Cooper, 1872) - Reticulate Taildropper, Anderson's Taildropper Slug * '' Prophysaon boreale'' Pilsbry, 1948 - Northern Taildropper * '' Prophysaon coeruleum'' Cockerell, 1890 - Blue-Gray Taildropper * '' Prophysaon dubium'' Cockerell, 1890 - Papillose Taildropper * '' Prophysaon fasciatum'' Cockerell in W. G. Binney - Banded Taildropper * '' Prophysaon foliolatum'' (

Gould Gould may refer to: People * Gould (name), a surname Places United States * Gould, Arkansas, a city * Gould, Colorado, an unincorporated community * Gould, Ohio, an unincorporated community * Gould, Oklahoma, a town * Gould, West Virginia, a ...

, 1851) - Yellow-bordered Taildropper * '' Prophysaon humile'' Cockerell, 1890 - Smoky Taildropper * '' Prophysaon obscurum'' (Cockerell, 1890) - Mottled Taildropper * '' Prophysaon vanattae'' Pilsbry, 1948 - Scarlet-backed Taildropper ** ''Prophysaon vanattae'' var. ''pardalis'' * ''Prophysaon'' undescribed species from

Siskiyou County, California Siskiyou County (, ) is a county in the northernmost part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,076. Its county seat is Yreka and its highest point is Mount Shasta. It falls within the Cascadia bioregion ...

.Roth B. & Sadeghian P. S. 2006. ''Checklist of the Land Snails and Slugs of California''. Contributions in Science 3.

Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum in Santa Barbara, California. It reconnects more than 150,000 people each year (including their 5,700 members) to nature indoors and outdoors. Nestled in nature, the museum ...

, California. 82 pp. ;Species brought into synonymy: * ''Prophysaon flavum'' Cockerell, 1890: synonym of ''Prophysaon andersonii'' (J.G. Cooper, 1872) * ''Prophysaon hemphilli'' Bland & W. G. Binney, 1873: synonym of ''Prophysaon andersonii'' (J.G. Cooper, 1872) * ''Prophysaon pacificum'' Cockerell, 1890: synonym of ''Prophysaon andersonii'' (J.G. Cooper, 1872)

References

External links

* information about ''Prophysaon andersoni'': http://www.livinglandscapes.bc.ca/cbasin/molluscs/arionidae.html * Wilke T. & Duncan N. 2004
''Phylogeographical patterns in the American Pacific Northwest: lessons from the arionid slug Prophysaon coeruleum''
Molecular Ecology, volume 13, issue 8, pages 2303-2315.
''Prophysaon'' sp. 1 A Terrestrial Slug

NatureServe NatureServe, Inc. is a non-profit organization based in Arlington County, Virginia, US, that provides proprietary wildlife conservation-related data, tools, and services to private and government clients, partner organizations, and the public. Nat ...

Explorer. {{Taxonbar, from=Q3074532 Ariolimacidae