Arion lusitanicus
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Arion lusitanicus |
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| Mabille , 1868 |
Arion lusitanicus (not Arion lusitanicus auctt. = Arion vulgaris ) is a slug species from the family of slugs (Arionidae) in the order of snails (Pulmonata). For a long time, the harmful snail that spreads in Central Europe wasidentifiedwith Arion lusitanicus ; hence the name Spanish slug . After examining specimens from the type locality in Portugal, it turned out that the Central European harmful snail is not identical to Arion lusitanicus . She kept the common German name Spanish slug, the scientific name is Arion vulgaris according to the current state.
features
The animals are stretched out up to 8 cm long. The body is dark brown with yellowish tones. There are two light brown bands on the back and coat. The right band runs over the pneumostome . The tubercles are comparatively small. The tentacles are black. The edge of the foot is red with black transverse lines that run into the lateral parts of the sole. The sole is olive gray with darker edges. In living animals, the slime is colorless and very sticky. It turns yellow in preserved animals, and even intensely yellow on the sole. Young animals are greenish-gray with two whitish bands on the coat and the back of the back. The sole is whitish or with an orange tone.
In the genital apparatus, the atrium is rounded and not divided. The seminal vesicle is round and the conductor to the seminal vesicle ("stem") is as long as the seminal vesicle itself. The stem becomes a little wider just before it joins the atrium. The epiphallus and vas deferens are roughly the same length. The transition from the vas deferens to the epiphallus is marked by a constriction. The vagina is longer and wider than the ladder to the seminal vesicle. The fallopian tube is greatly expanded in the distal part. The fallopian tube kinks in front of this expansion and a retractor muscle attaches in front of this kink. In the enlarged part of the fallopian tube there are two V-shaped longitudinal ridges ("ligula").
Similar species
The edge of the sole in Arion lusitanicus is gray and lighter than the upper parts of the body. With Arion rufus it is the other way around. The tubercles are smaller in Arion lusitanicus than in Arion rufus .
Geographical distribution, habitat and way of life
The species is endemic to central Portugal. Evidence in Spain needs to be checked whether they are actually Arion lusitanicus or the harmful snail Arion vulgaris .
The species occurs in the mountainous region of the Serra da Arrábida (near Lisbon / Portugal ). It lives there in the natural vegetation of these mountains on calcareous soils. It hides headfirst in very narrow crevices in the ground and eats mushrooms in spring and autumn. In the other seasons it feeds on herbaceous plants , mosses and lichens. Copulation was observed in January and February.
Taxonomy and nomenclature
The taxon was first described by Jules François Mabille in 1868 . Arion lusitanicus is a species endemic to central Portugal. The name was wrongly transferred to a slug that invasively expanded in Central Europe. It was assumed that this snail was brought with vegetables from Spain to Central Europe and was therefore given the common name Spanish slug. Doubts about the identification of the harmful snail were expressed as early as the 1970s and 1980s, but it was only with the description of the topotype material of Arion lusitanicus that the incorrect identification of the Central European harmful snail could be confirmed. It is questionable whether Arion lusitanicus occurs in Spain at all. So far there is only reliable evidence from central Portugal.
Today the Spanish slug is mostly identified with Arion vulgaris , a scientific taxon that was established by Alfred Moquin-Tandon in 1855 under the name Arion rufus var. Vulgaris . However, not all authors follow this view, because the identification is not based on comparisons with type material, which is lost, but only on descriptions and illustrations of Moquin-Tandon. A neotype would therefore have to be established in order to stabilize the nomenclature. Therefore, many authors still prefer the name Arion lusitanicus with the addition of "auct., Non Mabille" to express that it is not the Mabille species, but the invasive species that has been treated under this name for decades.
supporting documents
literature
- José Castillejo: Las babosas de la familia Arionidae Gray, 1840 en la Península Ibérica e Islas Baleares. Morfología y distribución. (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, terrestria nuda). Revista, Real Academia Galega de Ciencias, 16: 51-118, Santiago de Compostela 1997.
- José Castillejo: Guía de las babosas ibéricas. 154 p., Santiago de Compostela, Real Academia Galega de Ciencias 1998 PDF .
- Francisco W. Welter-Schultes: European non-marine molluscs, a guide for species identification = identification book for European land and freshwater mollusks. A1-A3 S., 679 S., Q1-Q78 S., Göttingen, Planet Poster Ed., 2012 ISBN 3-933922-75-5 , ISBN 978-3-933922-75-5 (S. 477)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jules Mabille: Archives malacologiques. Pp. 1-80. Paris, Bouchard-Huzard 1867-1869 PDF ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (5.4 MB).
- ↑ Alfred Moquin-Tandon: Histoire naturelle des mollusques terrestres et fluviatiles de la France contenant des études générales sur leur anatomie et leur physiologie et la description particulière des genres, des espèces et des variétés. Tome second. P. 1–646, Atlas: P. 1–92, Pl. 1–54, Paris, Baillière, 1855 Online at www.biodiversitylibrary.org (p. 10) Taf.1, Fig.1 .
