Agriolimacidae

Agriolimacidae is a family of small and medium-sized land slugs, or shell-less snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks.

Agriolimacidae
Temporal range: Pleistocene–Recent[1]
The largest slug in the image is an individual of Deroceras reticulatum
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Heterobranchia
Superorder: Eupulmonata
Order: Stylommatophora
Superfamily: Limacoidea
Family: Agriolimacidae
H. Wagner, 1935[2]
Type genus
Agriolimax
Mörch, 1865
Diversity[3][4]
6 genera, about 135 species (123 species in Deroceras + at least 12 other species)

Distribution

Distribution of Limacidae is Holarctic,[1] this include: Nearctic, western Palearctic and eastern Palearctic.[5]

Agriolimacidae is the largest slug family, some are introduced all over the world, synanthropes are often severe pests.[1]

This view of the right side of Deroceras praecox clearly shows the position of its pneumostome.

Anatomy

Most slugs in the family Agriolimacidae are rather small; only a few (in the genera Mesolimax and Krynickillus) are larger. Most are not more than 50 mm long.[1] The mantle is usually large, occupying approximately 1/3 of the entire body length, situated in the anterior part of the body.[1] The pneumostome is clearly postmedial.[1] The surface of the mantle in living slugs is covered in concentric, mobile wrinkles.[1] In addition sometimes there is a shallow, poorly defined groove which runs above the pneumostome on the right side, not passing to the left.[1]

The penis is short, usually bag-shaped, often with external appendages, inside with different stimulatory organs.[1] No tubular membrane encircles the penis and vas deferens.[1] The penis retractor muscle is situated beside the right tentacle.[1]

In this family, the number of haploid chromosomes lies between 26 and 30 (according to the values in this table).[6]

Taxonomy

The following two subfamilies have been recognized in the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005):

  • subfamily Agriolimacinae H. Wagner, 1935[2] - synonym: Deroceratinae Magne, 1952
  • subfamily Mesolimacinae Hausdorf, 1998

Genera

Genera within the family Agriolimacidae include:

subfamily Agriolimacinae

subfamily Mesolimacinae

  • Mesolimax Pollonera, 1888
    • Mesolimax brauni Pollonera, 1888

subfamily ?

  • Lytopelte Boettger, 1886
  • Megalopelte Lindholm, 1914

Cladogram

A cladogram showing the phylogenic relationships of this family to other families within the limacoid clade:[5]

 limacoid clade 
 Staffordioidea 

Staffordiidae

 Dyakioidea 

Dyakiidae

 Gastrodontoidea 

Pristilomatidae

Chronidae

Euconulidae

Trochomorphidae

Gastrodontidae

Oxychilidae

 Parmacelloidea 

Trigonochlamydidae

Parmacellidae

Milacidae

 Zonitoidea 

Zonitidae

 Helicarionoidea 

Helicarionidae

Ariophantidae

Urocyclidae

 Limacoidea 

Vitrinidae

Boettgerillidae

Limacidae

Agriolimacidae

References

This article incorporates public domain text from the reference.[1]

  1. "Family summary for Agriolimacidae". AnimalBase, last change 23-05-2010, accessed 4 August 2010
  2. Wagner, J. (1935). "Magyarország, Horvátország és Dalmácia hazátlan csigái (40 szövegrajzzal). II. rész". Annales historico-naturales Musei nationalis hungarici. Pars Zoologica. 29: 169–212.
  3. "Genera in family Agriolimacidae" [n = 6]. AnimalBase, accessed 10 September 2010.
  4. Wiktor, A. (2000). "Agriolimacidae (Gastropoda: Pulmonata): a systematic monograph". Annales Zoologici 49: 347-590. abstract
  5. Hausdorf B. (2000). "Biogeography of the Limacoidea sensu lato (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora): Vicariance Events and Long-Distance Dispersal". Journal of Biogeography 27(2): 379-390. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00403.x, JSTOR.
  6. Barker G. M.: Gastropods on Land: Phylogeny, Diversity and Adaptive Morphology. in Barker G. M. (ed.): The biology of terrestrial molluscs. CABI Publishing, Oxon, UK, 2001, ISBN 0-85199-318-4. 1-146, cited pages: 139 and 142.
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