| Ambigolimax waterstoni | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Heterobranchia |
| Order: | Stylommatophora |
| Superfamily: | Limacoidea |
| Family: | Limacidae |
| Genus: | Ambigolimax |
| Species: | A. waterstoni |
| Binomial name | |
| Ambigolimax waterstoni Hutchinson, Reise & Schlitt, 2022 [1] | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Ambigolimax waterstoni is a species of air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Limacidae.
This is one of the several species formerly confused under the name Limax nyctelius and later Lehmannia nyctelia or Ambigolimax nyctelius. [1]
In the early 1930s A.R. Waterston wrote his undergraduate thesis describing a species of "Limax" from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. These specimens and others were the basis for H.E. Quick in 1946 to name them as Limax nyctelius, a species described from Algeria. [2] By that time M. Connolly had used this name for the same species in South Africa. [3] It was subsequently reported more widely. Only in 2022 [1] was it realised that these further findings were not all of the same species: slugs from the Carpathian Mountains and Bulgaria were of a species now called Lehmannia carpatica and the recently invasive species in Western Europe and California has been renamed Ambigolimax parvipenis . Furthermore, the original Limax nyctelius was recognised as a species of Letourneuxia . [4]
Hence the species from Edinburgh has been renamed Ambigolimax waterstoni, after A.R. Waterston, with the holotype being one of his specimens from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, still preserved in the National Museum of Scotland. [1] [5]
The original home of A. waterstoni is likely Algeria. It is probably an introduction on the island of Elba. [6] In South Africa, [7] Australia, [8] and New Zealand [9] it has spread outdoors quite widely. Additional historical occurrences are in the Edinburgh and perhaps Glasgow botanic gardens, and probably on imported palms in Washington DC. [1]
The length of preserved specimens reaches 37 mm. [3] Like other limacids, the animals are slim with a pointed tail, and the pneumostome lies in the posterior half of the mantle. The background colour is pale yellowish to light brown, with a pale cream sole. Two darker lines run along either side of the mantle, and also posteriorly along the back, although fainter and perhaps not in all specimens. On these external features A. waterstoni is generally not distinguishable externally from other species of Ambigolimax, so morphological identification requires dissection. [1]
The species is readily identifiable by its penis, which is long and lacks a penial appendage. These characters are shared by Lehmannia carpatica, but the structures inside the retracted penis are distinct: Ambigolimax waterstoni has two flaps running most of the length of the penis with a distinctive honeycomb-like surface structure on the tissue between the flaps. [1] [6]
Limax maximus, known by the common names great grey slug and leopard slug, is a species of slug in the family Limacidae, the keeled slugs. It is among the largest keeled slugs, Limax cinereoniger being the largest.
The red slug, also known as the large red slug, chocolate arion and European red slug, is a species of land slug in the family Arionidae, the roundback slugs.
Limax is a genus of air-breathing land slugs in the terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk family Limacidae.
Deroceras praecox is a species of small air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Agriolimacidae.
Lehmannia is a genus of air-breathing land slugs in the family Limacidae, the keelback slugs. The genus is distributed in Europe and North Africa.
Ambigolimax valentianus is a species of terrestrial slug, a pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Limacidae. It has spread very widely around the world, especially in greenhouses, where it can be a pest; in warmer climates it has often then spread outdoors. Comparatively much has been learnt about its life cycle and temperature relations. Dissection is necessary to reliably distinguish it from congeners in regions where these co-occur.
Letourneuxia is a genus of large air-breathing land slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Arionidae, the roundback slugs.
Lehmannia melitensis is a species of air-breathing land slug, a shell-less pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Limacidae.
Deroceras invadens is a species of air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Agriolimacidae. Until 2011, this widely distributed species was known as Deroceras panormitanum, and earlier as Deroceras caruanae or Agriolimax caruanae, but Reise et al. (2011) showed that these names refer to a distinct species of similar external appearance known at that time only from Sicily and Malta. Consequently, although the more widespread species was already well known, it then had to be redescribed under the new name of D. invadens. Genetic evidence has indicated that D. invadens is native in southern Italy, including parts of Sicily, and possibly parts of central Italy. Elsewhere it has been introduced, predominantly within the last 100 years, but its spread has been constrained by cold winter temperatures.
Ambigolimax is a genus of air-breathing land slugs in the family Limacidae, the keelback slugs. There is still ongoing disagreement whether it is more appropriate to consider Ambigolimax as merely a subgenus of Lehmannia; the evidence for splitting them is phylogenetic trees constructed on the basis of DNA sequences.
Dr Andrew Rodger Waterston OBE FRSE FRES was a Scottish zoologist, specialising in malacology and entomology. He was interested in the insect fauna of the Middle East and in the fauna of the Outer Hebrides. He was generally known as Rodger Waterston.
The name Ambigolimax nyctelius has been used to refer to several species of air-breathing land slugs in the family Limacidae. An article published in 2022 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.
Letourneuxia nyctelia is a species of terrestrial slug, a gastropod mollusc, belonging to the family Arionidae.
Ambigolimax parvipenis is a species of air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the Limacidae.
Lehmannia carpatica is a species of air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Limacidae.