Limacidae, also known by their common name the keelback slugs, are a taxonomic family of medium-sized to very large, air-breathing land slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Limacoidea.
| Limacidae | |
|---|---|
 | |
| A live individual of Limax maximus | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Order: | Stylommatophora |
| Superfamily: | Limacoidea |
| Family: | Limacidae Batsch, 1789[1] |
| Diversity[2] | |
| 13 genera, 107 species (as of 2025) | |
Distribution
editThe natural distribution of the family Limacidae is the Western Palaearctic and into adjacent parts of Asia,[3][4] but species such as Limacus flavus, Limax maximus and Ambigolimax valentianus have been introduced almost worldwide in temperate regions.[5] There are 28 species of Limacidae in Russia and adjacent countries.[6]
Cytology
editIn this family, the number of haploid chromosomes lies between 21 and 25 and also lies between 31 and 35 (according to the values in this table).[7]
Genera
editCurrently recognised genera in the family Limacidae are:[2]
subfamily Eumilacinae Likharev & Wiktor, 1980[2]
subfamily Limacinae Batsch, 1789[2]
- Ambigolimax Pollonera, 1887;[8] formerly considered a subgenus of Lehmannia[9]
- Bielzia Clessin, 1887 – with the only species Bielzia coerulans M. Bielz, 1851. Some authors, for example Russian malacologists,[6] have classified Bielzia within its own family Bielzidae (= Limacopsidae) or subfamily Bielzinae, but a molecular phylogeny has subsequently placed it within Limacinae.[9]
- Caspilimax P. Hesse, 1926[6]
- Gigantomilax O. Boettger, 1883[6]
- Lehmannia Heynemann, 1863;[2] formerly considered a subgenus of Limax
- Limacus Lehmann, 1864; sometimes considered a subgenus of Limax
- Limax Linnaeus, 1758[6] – type genus of Limacidae; c. half the recognised species in the family
- Malacolimax Malm, 1868;[6] formerly considered a subgenus of Limax
- Svanetia Hesse, 1926[10]
- Turcomilax Simroth, 1902[2]
- Weltersia Giusti et al. 2021 – with the only species W. obscura Giusti et al. 2021[11]
Cladograms
editA cladogram showing the phylogenic relationships of this family to other families within the limacoid clade:[3]
A molecular-based phylogeny of the genera within the Limacidae.[9] Metalimax and Caspilimax were not included in the study.
| Limacidae |
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Ecology
editParasites of slugs in this family include larvae of the marsh flies Sciomyzidae, and others.
References
edit- ↑ Batsch, A.J.G.C. (1789). Versuch einer Anleitung, zur Kenntniß und Geschichte der Thiere und Mineralien, für akademische Vorlesungen entworfen, und mit den nöthigsten Abbildungen versehen. Vol. 2. Besondre Geschichte der Insekten, Gewürme und Mineralien. Jena: Akademische Buchhandlung.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 MolluscaBase Eds. "Limacidae Batsch, 1789". MolluscaBase. Flemish Marine Institute. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- 1 2 Hausdorf, B. (2000). "Biogeography of the Limacoidea sensu lato (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora): vicariance events and long‐distance dispersal". Journal of Biogeography. 27 (2): 379–390. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00403.x.
- ↑ Wiktor, A.; Bössneck, U. (2004). "Limax (Limax) seticus n. sp. from high mountains in Nepal (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Limacidae)". Folia Malacologica. 12 (4). doi:10.12657/folmal.012.017.
- ↑ Herbert, D.G. (2010). The introduced terrestrial Mollusca of South Africa. SANBI Biodiversity Series 15 (PDF). Pretoria: South African National Biodiversity Institute. ISBN 9781919976563.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kantor Yu I., Vinarski M. V., Schileyko A. A. & Sysoev A. V.(published online on December 22, 2009). "Catalogue of the continental mollusks of Russia and adjacent territories". Version 2.3.
- ↑ Barker G. M.: Gastropods on Land: Phylogeny, Diversity and Adaptive Morphology. in Barker G. M. (ed.): The biology of terrestrial molluscs. CABI Publishing, Oxon, UK, 2001, ISBN 0-85199-318-4. 1-146, cited pages: 139 and 142.
- ↑ MolluscaBase Eds. "Ambigolimax Pollonera, 1887". MolluscaBase. Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- 1 2 3 Hutchinson, JMC; Schlitt, B; Reise, H (2026). "Ambigolimax, Lehmannia and other limacid slugs (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora); what their DNA tells us about phylogeny, taxonomy and phylogeography". Journal of Molluscan Studies. 92 (1) eyaf031. doi:10.1093/mollus/eyaf031.
- ↑ MolluscaBase Eds. "Svanetia P. Hesse, 1926". MolluscaBase. Flanders Marine Institute.
- ↑ Giusti, F.; Lesicki, A.; Benocci, A.; Pieńkowska, J.R.; Manganelli, G. (2021). "Weltersia obscura , a new slug from the island of Montecristo (Tuscan Archipelago, Italy): a hitherto undiscovered endemic or a recent alien? (Mollusca, Pulmonata, Limacidae)". Systematics and Biodiversity. 19 (7): 648–664. doi:10.1080/14772000.2021.1908442.
External links
edit
- Slugs of Florida on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site