Arion (gastropod)

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Arion
Orange slug.jpg
Arion rufus
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Stylommatophora
Family: Arionidae
Genus: Arion
A. Férussac, 1819 [1]
Type species
Arion empiricorum
A. Férussac, 1819
Synonyms
  • Arion (Arion)A. Férussac, 1819 alternative representation
  • Arion (Carinarion)P. Hesse, 1926 alternative representation
  • Arion (Carinella)Mabille, 1870 (invalid; preoccupied)
  • Arion (Kobeltia)Seibert, 1873 alternative representation
  • Arion (Lochea)Moquin-Tandon, 1855 junior subjective synonym
  • Arion (Mesarion)P. Hesse, 1926 alternative representation
  • Arion (Microarion)P. Hesse, 1926 alternative representation
  • Arion (Prolepis)Moquin-Tandon, 1855
  • BaudoniaMabille, 1868 junior subjective synonym
  • CarinellaMabille, 1870 (Invalid: junior homonym of CarinellaJohnston, 1833 [Nemertea] and CarinellaG.B. Sowerby II, 1839)
  • MacroarionP. Hesse, 1926 unavailable name
  • MicroarionP. Hesse, 1926
  • TetraspisHagenmüller, 1885

Arion is a genus of air-breathing land slugs in the family Arionidae, the roundback slugs. [2]

Contents

Most species of this Palearctic genus are native to the Iberian Peninsula. [3]

Species can be difficult to distinguish from one another upon cursory examination, because individuals of a species can vary in color and there are few obvious differences between taxa. [4] The color of an individual can be influenced by its diet. [5]

Some Arion are known as pests, such as A. lusitanicus auct. non Mabille (= A. vulgaris), which damages agricultural crops and ornamental plants, and A. rufus, a familiar garden pest. [6] Arion slugs are often transported internationally in shipments of plant products and mushrooms. [7] Arion slugs have been identified in North America and Australia as invasive species, altering the plants of ecosystems through seed predation and competing with native slugs. [8]

Species

There are over 40 species in the genus. [5] [9]

Species include:

Synonyms

Etymology

The name Arion is in reference to Aelion's De Natura Animalium, which features a story about areíones - snails which leave their shells behind to feed, thus outsmarting predators who attack the empty shells. [12] [13]

Mentioning in literature and folklore

References

  1. ↑ Férussac, A. E. and G. Deshayes. 1819–1851. Histoire naturelle générale et particulière des mollusques terrestres et fluviatiles, tant des espèces que l'on trouve aujourd'hui vivantes, que des dépouilles fossiles de celles qui n'existent plus; classés d'après les caractères essentiels que présentent ces animaux et leurs coquilles. pp. Tome 1: 8 + 184 pp.; Tome 2 (1): 402 pp.; 2 (2): 260 + 22 + 16 pp.; Atlas 1: 70 pl.; Atlas 2: 166 + 5 pl.. Paris. (J.-B. Bailliere).
  2. ↑ MolluscaBase eds. (2025). MolluscaBase. Arion A. Férussac, 1819. Accessed through: World Register of Marine * At: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=818149 on 2025-10-25
  3. ↑ Quinteiro, J.; Rodriguez-Castro, J.; Castillejo, J.; Iglesias-Pineiro, J.; Rey-Mendez, M. (2005). "Phylogeny of slug species of the genus Arion: evidence of monophyly of Iberian endemics and of the existence of relict species in Pyrenean refuges". Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. 43 (2): 139–148. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0469.2005.00307.x.
  4. ↑ Skujienė, G. and M. Soroka. (2003). A comparison of different DNA extraction methods for slugs (Mollusca: Pulmonata). Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Ekologija 1, 12–16.
  5. 1 2 Jordaens, K. (2001). "Food-induced body pigmentation questions the taxonomic value of colour in the self-fertilizing slug Carinarion spp". Journal of Molluscan Studies. 67 (2): 161–167. doi: 10.1093/mollus/67.2.161 .
  6. ↑ Soroka, M., et al. (2008). Distribution and genetic diversity of the terrestrial slugs Arion lusitanicus Mabille, 1868 and Arion rufus (Linnaeus, 1758) in Poland based on mitochondrial DNA. Folia Biologica 57(1–2), 1–2.
  7. ↑ Barr, N.B.; Cook, A.; Elder, P.; Molongoski, J.; Prasher, D.; Robinson, D.G. (2009). "Application of a DNA barcode using the 16S rRNA gene to diagnose pest Arion species in the USA". Journal of Molluscan Studies. 75 (2): 187–191. doi: 10.1093/mollus/eyn047 .
  8. ↑ Zemanova, Miriam; Broenniman, Olivier; Guisan, Antoine; Knop, Eva; Heckel, Gerard (13 June 2018). "Slimy invasion: Climatic niche and current and future biogeography of Arion slug invaders". Diversity and Distributions: A Journal of Conservation Biogeography. 24 (11).
  9. ↑ "Arion". Integrated Taxonomic Information System . Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  10. 1 2 Manganelli, G., et al. (2010). The status of Arion alpinus Pollonera 1887, and re-description of Arion obesoductus Reischütz 1973 (Gastropoda, Arionidae). Journal of Conchology 40, 269–76.
  11. ↑ Jordaens, Kurt; Pinceel, Jan; Van Houtte, Natalie; Breugelmans, Karin; Backeljau, Thierry (2010). "Arion transsylvanus (Mollusca, Pulmonata, Arionidae): rediscovery of a cryptic species". Zoologica Scripta. 39 (4): 343–362. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2010.00425.x.
  12. ↑ Férussac, A. E. d'Audebard de; Férussac, A. E. d'Audebard de; Deshayes, G. P. (1820). Histoire naturelle générale et particulière des mollusques terrestres et fluviatiles, tant des espèces que l'on trouve aujourd'hui vivantes que des dépouilles fossiles de celles qui n'existent plus, classés d'après les caractères essentiels que présentent ces animaux et leurs coquilles. Vol. t.2:texte. Paris: J.-B. Baillière.
  13. ↑ "Aelian : On Animals, 10". www.attalus.org. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
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