Limacidae

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 Lamarck, 1801[1]
Diversity[2][3]
12 genera, many species (more than 56 species)

Distribution

The distribution of the family Limacidae is the western Palearctic.^[4] There are 28 species of Limacidae in Russia and adjacent countries.^[5]

Anatomy

Cytology

In 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).^[6]

Taxonomy

2002 taxonomy

Zhiltsov & Schileyko (2002)^[7] elevated the subfamily Bielziinae to family level, Bielziidae, based on the morphology of the reproductive system of Bielzia coerulans.^[7]

2005 taxonomy

The following two subfamilies were recognized in the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005):

• subfamily Limacinae Lamarck, 1801 - synonyms: Limacopsidae Gerhardt, 1935;^[8] Bielziinae I. M. Likharev & Wiktor, 1980
• subfamily Eumilacinae I. M. Likharev & Wiktor, 1980^[9]

Genera

Genera in the family Limacidae include:

subfamily Limacinae

• Limax Linnaeus, 1758^[5] - type genus of the family Limacidae
• Limacus Lehmann, 1864; sometimes considered a subgenus of Limax
• Bielzia Clessin, 1887 - with the only species Bielzia coerulans M. Bielz, 1851. Some authors, for example Russian malacologists,^[5] classify genus Bielzia within separate family Limacopsidae.^[5]
• Caspilimax P. Hesse, 1926^[5]
• Caucasolimax Likharev et Wiktor, 1980^[5]
• Gigantomilax O. Boettger, 1883^[5]
  • Gigantomilax csikii Soós, 1924
  • Gigantomilax lederi (Boettger, 1883)
  • Gigantomilax majoricensis (Heynemann, 1863)^[10]
• Lehmannia Heynemann, 1862^[5]
• Ambigolimax Pollonera, 1887,;^[11] sometimes considered a subgenus of Lehmannia
• Limacopsis Simroth, 1888
• Malacolimax Malm, 1868^[5]
• Turcomilax Simroth, 1901^[5]

subfamily Eumilacinae

• Eumilax O. Boettger, 1881 - type genus of the subfamily Eumilacinae
  • Eumilax brandti (Martens, 1880)
• Metalimax Simroth, 1896

Cladogram

A cladogram showing the phylogenic relationships of this family to other families within the limacoid clade:^[4]

limacoid clade	Staffordioidea Staffordiidae Dyakioidea Dyakiidae Gastrodontoidea Pristilomatidae Chronidae Euconulidae Trochomorphidae Gastrodontidae Oxychilidae Parmacelloidea Trigonochlamydidae Parmacellidae Milacidae Zonitoidea Zonitidae Helicarionoidea Helicarionidae Ariophantidae Urocyclidae Limacoidea Vitrinidae Boettgerillidae Limacidae Agriolimacidae

Ecology

Parasites of slugs in this family include larvae of the marsh flies Sciomyzidae, and others.