Ambigolimax nyctelius
Species of land slug
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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  | |
| 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 Algeria, Spain, France, Greece and Arizona;[5][6]
- Lehmannia carpatica occurs mostly at high altitudes along the chain of the Carpathian Mountains and in other ranges further south from Albania to Bulgaria;[7]
- Simroth and Pollonera used the species name nyctelia for a poorly known species from North Africa attributed to the genus Malacolimax.[8][9]