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] PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
The largest slug in the image is an individual of Deroceras reticulatum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Panpulmonata clade Eupulmonata clade Stylommatophora informal group Sigmurethra clade limacoid clade
Superfamily:	Limacoidea
Family:	Agriolimacidae H. Wagner, 1935
Diversity[2][3][2]
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.[4]

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).[5]

Taxonomy

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

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

Genera

Genera within the family Agriolimacidae include:

subfamily Agriolimacinae

• Deroceras Rafinesque, 1820 - type genus described as Agriolimax Mörch, 1865
• Furcopenis Castillejo & Wiktor, 1983
• Krynickillus Kaleniczenko, 1851

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:[4]

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. "Genera in family Agriolimacidae" [n = 6]. AnimalBase, accessed 10 September 2010.
3. Wiktor, A. (2000). "Agriolimacidae (Gastropoda: Pulmonata): a systematic monograph". Annales Zoologici 49: 347-590. abstract
4. 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.
5. 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.

External links

• Slugs of Florida on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site