The name Ambigolimax nyctelius (and similarly Lehmannia nyctelia and Limax nyctelius) has been used to refer to several species of air-breathing land slugs (terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs) in the family Limacidae. An article published in 2022[1] 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.[2]
| Ambigolimax nyctelius | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Order: | Stylommatophora |
| Superfamily: | Limacoidea |
| Family: | Limacidae |
| Genus: | Ambigolimax |
| Species: | A. nyctelius
|
| Binomial name | |
| Ambigolimax nyctelius (Bourguignat, 1861)
| |
The following five species were confused:[1]
- Letourneuxia nyctelia (family Arionidae) is the slug originally described. Until 2022 it was mostly known as Letourneuxia numidica;[3]
- Ambigolimax waterstoni is believed native in Algeria but has been reported also from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Elba and some Scottish botanic gardens;[4]
- Ambigolimax parvipenis is a widespread invasive species in the British Isles and California, and has been reported also from Spain, France, Greece and Arizona;[5]
- Lehmannia carpatica occurs mostly at high altitudes along the chain of the Carpathian Mountains and in other ranges further south from Albania to Bulgaria;[6]
- Simroth and Pollonera used the species name nyctelia for a poorly known species from North Africa attributed to the genus Malacolimax.[7][8]
References
edit- ^ a b Hutchinson, John M.C.; Reise, Heike; Schlitt, Bettina (30 June 2022). "Will the real Limax nyctelius please step forward: Lehmannia, Ambigolimax, or Malacolimax? No, Letourneuxia!". Archiv für Molluskenkunde. 151 (1): 19–41. doi:10.1127/arch.moll/151/019-041.
- ^ "Ambigolimax nyctelius (Bourguignat, 1861)". Molluscabase. Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
- ^ "Letourneuxia nyctelia (Bourguignat, 1861)". Molluscabase. Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
- ^ "Ambigolimax waterstoni Hutchinson, Reise & Schlitt, 2022". Molluscabase. Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
- ^ "Ambigolimax parvipenis Hutchinson, Reise & Schlitt, 2022". Molluscabase. Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
- ^ "Lehmannia carpatica Hutchinson, Reise & Schlitt, 2022". Molluscabase. Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
- ^ Simroth, H. (1885). "Versuch einer Naturgeschichte der deutschen Nacktschnecken und ihrer europäischen Verwandten". Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Zoologie. 42: 203–366, pls 7–11.
- ^ Pollonera, C. (1891). "Appunti di malacologia. VIII. Sui Limacidi dell'Algeria". Bollettino dei Musei di Zoologia ed Anatomia Comparata della Reale Università di Torino. 6 (100): 1–5.