Limax cinereoniger

Limax cinereoniger
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Stylommatophora
Family: Limacidae
Genus: Limax
Species:
L. cinereoniger
Binomial name
Limax cinereoniger
Wolf, 1803
Synonyms[2]

Limax alpinus Férussac, 1822

Limax cinereoniger, the ash-black slug is a large species of air-breathing land slug in the terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc family Limacidae, the keelback slugs. This is the largest land slug species in the world.[3]

Distribution

This slug is native to Europe. It is recorded in most of Europe, including Bulgaria, Czech Republic (where it is of least concern),[4] Italy, Netherlands,[5] Slovakia, Great Britain, Ireland, Finland, Ukraine,[6] and several other countries.[1] It occurs east as far as the Urals. It is common in much of its range, but mostly rare or absent in southernmost Europe. Although known from the Iberian Peninsula and the Balkans, there are no records from Portugal or Greece.[1]

Reproductive system of Limax cinereoniger:
pr - penial retractor muscle;
pe - penis;
at - atrium;
bc - bursa copulatrix;
ov - oviduct.
White stripe under foot

Description

With a maximum length exceeding 20 centimeters, this species is the largest land slug.[3]

Habitat

This species lives in woodlands and occasionally parks.

Parasites

Parasites of Limax cinereoniger include nematodes of genus Elaphostrongylus[7] and Agfa flexilis.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c Rowson, B. (2017). "Limax cinereoniger". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T171652A1329435. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T171652A1329435.en. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  2. ^ Nitz, B., et al. (2009). Towards a new standard in slug species descriptions: the case of Limax sarnensis Heim & Nitz n. sp. (Pulmonata: Limacidae) from the Western Central Alps. Journal of Molluscan Studies 75(3): 279-294. doi:10.1093/mollus/eyp030.
  3. ^ a b Limacidae. The Living World of Molluscs.
  4. ^ Juřičková, L., et al. 2001. Check-list of the molluscs (Mollusca) of the Czech Republic. Acta Soc. Zool. Bohem. 65: 25-40.
  5. ^ Limax. Archived 2009-01-08 at the Wayback Machine Stichting ANEMOON.
  6. ^ Balashov, I. & N. Gural-Sverlova. 2012. An annotated checklist of the terrestrial molluscs of Ukraine. Journal of Conchology. 41(1): 91-109.
  7. ^ Olsson I., et al. (1993). Gastropod hosts of Elaphostrongylus spp. (Protostrongylidae, Nematoda). Rangifer 13(1): 53-55.
  8. ^ Morand S. & Hommay G. (1990). "Redescription de Agfa flexilis (Nematoda: Agfidae) parasite de I’appareil genital de Limax cinereoniger (Gastropoda: Limacidae)". Systematic Parasitology 15(2): 127–132. doi:10.1007/bf00009990.
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