Ambigolimax nyctelius

Species of land slug

Ambigolimax nyctelius
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Stylommatophora
Superfamily: Limacoidea
Family: Limacidae
Genus: Ambigolimax
Species:
A. nyctelius
Binomial name
Ambigolimax nyctelius
(Bourguignat, 1861)

The name Ambigolimax nyctelius (and similarly Lehmannia nyctelia and Limax nyctelius) has been used to refer to several species of air-breathing land slugs (terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs) in the family Limacidae. An article published in 2022[1] revealed this confusion and furthermore showed that the original description applied to a slug species in a different family. The above names are therefore no longer appropriate and care is need to interpret the meaning of earlier usages.[2]

The following five species were confused:[1]

  • Letourneuxia nyctelia (family Arionidae) is the slug originally described. Until 2022 it was mostly known as Letourneuxia numidica;[3]
  • Ambigolimax waterstoni is believed native in Algeria but has been reported also from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Elba and some Scottish botanic gardens;[4]
  • Ambigolimax parvipenis is a widespread invasive species in the British Isles and California, and has been reported also from Spain, France, Greece and Arizona;[5]
  • Lehmannia carpatica occurs mostly at high altitudes along the chain of the Carpathian Mountains and in other ranges further south from Albania to Bulgaria;[6]
  • Simroth and Pollonera used the species name nyctelia for a poorly known species from North Africa attributed to the genus Malacolimax.[7][8]

References

  1. ^ a b Hutchinson, John M.C.; Reise, Heike; Schlitt, Bettina (30 June 2022). "Will the real Limax nyctelius please step forward: Lehmannia, Ambigolimax, or Malacolimax? No, Letourneuxia!". Archiv für Molluskenkunde. 151 (1): 19–41. doi:10.1127/arch.moll/151/019-041.
  2. ^ "Ambigolimax nyctelius (Bourguignat, 1861)". Molluscabase. Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  3. ^ "Letourneuxia nyctelia (Bourguignat, 1861)". Molluscabase. Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  4. ^ "Ambigolimax waterstoni Hutchinson, Reise & Schlitt, 2022". Molluscabase. Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  5. ^ "Ambigolimax parvipenis Hutchinson, Reise & Schlitt, 2022". Molluscabase. Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  6. ^ "Lehmannia carpatica Hutchinson, Reise & Schlitt, 2022". Molluscabase. Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  7. ^ Simroth, H. (1885). "Versuch einer Naturgeschichte der deutschen Nacktschnecken und ihrer europäischen Verwandten". Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Zoologie. 42: 203–366, pls 7–11.
  8. ^ Pollonera, C. (1891). "Appunti di malacologia. VIII. Sui Limacidi dell'Algeria". Bollettino dei Musei di Zoologia ed Anatomia Comparata della Reale Università di Torino. 6 (100): 1–5.
Taxon identifiers
Ambigolimax nyctelius
Limax nyctelius
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