Deroceras juranum
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| Deroceras juranum | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Order: | Stylommatophora |
| Family: | Agriolimacidae |
| Genus: | Deroceras |
| Species: | D. juranum |
| Binomial name | |
| Deroceras juranum Wüthrich, 1993[1] | |
Deroceras juranum is a species of air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Agriolimacidae.
Wüthrich (1993)[1] described Deroceras juranum from the Jura Mountains in Switzerland, distinguishing it from the co-occurring Deroceras rodnae on the basis of Deroceras juranum's distinct violet coloration. Later the same coloration was found in Austrian populations by Jordaens et al. (1998)[2] and in other species of Deroceras by Reise & Hutchinson (2001).[3] Reise (1997)[4] demonstrated that the violet coloration was controlled by a single Mendelian-inherited gene and thus considered Deroceras juranum to be a variety of Deroceras rodnae. It is treated thus in Wiktor’s (2000)[5] monograph of the Agriolimacidae.
Hutchinson & Reise (2009)[6] later realised that what had been considered Deroceras rodnae was actually two species with radically different mating behaviours and consistent, although subtle, differences in morphology. Molecular analyses supported this distinction. The more easterly distributed species can retain the name Deroceras rodnae, and the westerly distributed species must, somewhat confusingly, take the name Deroceras juranum.