Letourneuxia nyctelia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Heterobranchia
Order: Stylommatophora
Family: Arionidae
Genus: Letourneuxia
Species:
L. nyctelia
Binomial name
Letourneuxia nyctelia
(Bourguignat, 1861)[1]
Synonyms
  • Letourneuxia numidica Bourguignat, 1866[2]
  • Letourneuxia moreleti (Hesse, 1884)

Letourneuxia nyctelia is a species of terrestrial slug, a gastropod mollusc, belonging to the family Arionidae.[3]

Taxonomy

For many years this species was known as Letourneuxia numidica, described by Bourguignat from Algeria.[2] The other species of Letourneuxia were synonymised with L. numidica by Wiktor.[3] These included Letourneuxia moreleti, which Castillejo [4] considered instead to be a species of Geomalacus (criticised by [5]).

In 2022 it was proposed that Bourguignat's 1861 description of Limax nyctelius[1] referred to a juvenile of the same species that he described five years later as Letourneuxia numidica.[5] The forward position of the pneumostome is not known in any other North African species, and the stripes match. So the name of this species has now become Letourneuxia nyctelia (Bourguignat, 1861).[6] The lectotype has been designated as the specimen in the illustration referred to in the original species description.[7][5]

Distribution and ecology

The species is known only from Algeria and Morocco. It has been found mostly in woodland and scrub.[3][8]

Hand-coloured print from Bourguignat (1862: Plate 2 Figure 4),[7] showing the lectotype of Letourneuxia nyctelia; it is juvenile, and the pointed tail is not realistic for this species

Morphology

Maximum length is 65 mm. As with other arionids, the pneumostome is in the front part of the mantle and the tail is rounded without a keel. The colour is tawny brown with darker longitudinal stripes along the back and side. The sole is divided into three parts, with the central part only a third the width of each side part. There is an internal shell plate. Unlike in the other arionid genera Arion and Geomalacus, an epiphallus is lacking.[3][8] Like with Geomalacus, the chromosome number is n = 31.[9]

References

  1. 1 2 Bourguignat, J.R. (1861). "Des limaces algériennes". Revue et Magasin de Zoologie Pure et Appliquée (2e Série). 13: 299–306.
  2. 1 2 Bourguignat, J.R. (1866). Mollusques nouveaux, litigieux ou peu connus. Septième décade. Paris: F. Savy.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Wiktor, A. (1983). "Some data on slugs of Morocco and Algeria with description of a new Deroceras species (Gastropoda, Pulmonata)". Malakologische Abhandlungen Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde in Dresden. 8: 155–165.
  4. ↑ Castillejo, J. (1996). "Deroceras ponsonbyi (Hesse, 1884) and Geomalacus moreleti (Hesse, 1884) in Gibraltar (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Agriolimacidae, Arionidae)". Revista Real Academia Galega de Ciencias. 15: 23–34.
  5. 1 2 3 Hutchinson, John M.C.; Reise, Heike; Schlitt, Bettina (7 July 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.
  6. ↑ "Letourneuxia nyctelia (Bourguignat, 1861)". Molluscabase. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  7. 1 2 Bourguignat, J.R. (1862). Les spiciléges malacologiques. Paris: Baillière et Fils.
  8. 1 2 Borredà, V.; Martínez-Ortí, A. (2017). "Contribution to the knowledge of the terrestrial slugs (Gastropoda, Pulmonata) of the Maghreb". Iberus. 35: 1–10.
  9. ↑ Patrão, Cláudia; Sousa, Joana Teixeira de; Jordaens, Kurt; Backeljau, Thierry; Castilho, Rita; Leitão, Alexandra (December 2013). "Geomalacus and Letourneuxia (Mollusca, Pulmonata): a cytogenetic assessment". Malacologia. 56 (1 & 2): 333–338. doi:10.4002/040.056.0222.
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