Arion fuscus

Arion fuscus
An active individual from the Netherlands
A contracted individual of Arion fuscus from the Czech Republic
NE[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Heterobranchia

clade Euthyneura
clade Panpulmonata
clade Eupulmonata
clade Stylommatophora
informal group Sigmurethra

Superfamily: Arionoidea
Family: Arionidae
Genus: Arion
Species: A. fuscus
Binomial name
Arion fuscus
(O. F. Müller, 1774)
Synonyms

Arion subfuscus (Draparnaud, 1805)

Arion fuscus, also known as the "Dusky Arion", is a species of small air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Arionidae, the roundback slugs.

Arion subfuscus (Draparnaud, 1805) is considered by some authors to be a partial synonym for Arion fuscus.[2] Arion subfuscus (Draparnaud, 1805) and A. fuscus (Müller, 1774) have very similar morphology and have overlapping distributional ranges in northwestern Europe. Arion fuscus is widespread throughout Central, North and East Europe whereas A. subfuscus is restricted to West Europe.(For practical purposes the two are synonyms in Germany and in the Czech Republic.) The two taxa are referred to as the species complex Arion subfuscus/fuscus both members having several evolutionary lineages.They are only separable by alloenzyme analysis and gonad type.

Description

Note. In slugs it is often difficult to establish good criteria for identifying species using external features or internal features, as colouration can be quite variable, and the rather plastic anatomy makes diagnostic anatomical features difficult to establish.

A 50-70 mm. roundback slug. It is brown in colour, ranging from black-brown through olive-brown to orange and bright reddish-orange. Darker lateral bands are present.Dark pigment reaches under the pneumostome from back to front. The foot fringe is pale with thin lines.The sole is uniformly pale/translucent.The tentacles are pale.It does not contract into a bell shape when stimulated. Differs from other Arion species in its yellow-orange body mucus. Genitalia:Atrium about half diameter of spermatheca, spermatheca spherical, oviduct large and swollen like in Arion lusitanicus[3]

Distribution

This species occurs in European countries and islands including:

Habitat

This slug lives under fallen logs and under bark in woodland areas, but it also lives in hedges, gardens, pastures and dunes.

References

  1. ↑ 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Cited 2 March 2007.
  2. ↑ Arbeitskreis Mollusken NRW
  3. ↑ Animalbase (Welter-Schultes)
  4. ↑ http://ipp.boku.ac.at/private/wf/Check_List_of_Austrian_Mollusca.html Letzte Änderung am 24.10.2005. access 2 March 2007
  5. ↑ Juřičková L., Horsák M. & Beran L., 2001: Check-list of the molluscs (Mollusca) of the Czech Republic. Acta Soc. Zool. Bohem., 65: 25-40.
  6. ↑ Check-list of the molluscs (Mollusca) of the Czech Republic
  7. ↑ Deutsche Namen für einheimische Schnecken und Muscheln
  8. ↑ MollBase - Arion subfuscus - Braune Wegschnecke - Atlas 1991
  9. ↑ (Dutch) Arion subfuscus — Anemoon
  10. ↑ Wiktor A., De-niu C. & Wu M. (2000). "Stylommatophoran slugs of China (Gastropoda: Pulmonata) – prodromus". Folia Malacologica 8(1): 3-35.

Further reading

External links

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