Limax is a genus of air-breathing land slugs in the terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk family Limacidae.
The generic name Limax literally means "slug". Snail-eating animals, such as certain snakes, are thus called limaxivorous.
Some species, such as the leopard slug (L. maximus), are beneficial for the garden.
The genus Limax sensu stricto is probably monophyletic.Klee, B. 2006 Towards a phylogeny of Limax (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora). The Malacologist. Molluscan Forum 2006.
Distribution This genus is native to Europe, but at least one species (L. maximus) has been introduced into North America.
Species
The genus Limax includes at least 33 species:Species in genus Limax. AnimalBase. Accessed 5 May 2009.
Limax aeolianus Giusti, 1973 Limax albipes Dumont & Mortillet, 1853 Limax amaliae Bettoni, 1870 Limax bielzii Seibert, 1873 Limax brandstetteri Falkner, 2008Falkner, G. (2008). Limax (Limax) brandstetteri n. sp. – ein neuer Hochgebirgsschnegel aus den Abruzzen (Gastropoda: Limacidae). Limax (Limax) brandstetteri n. sp. – a new high mountain slug from the Abruzzi Mountains (Gastropoda: Limacidae). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde A, Neue Serie. 1: 133-142. Limax camerani Lessona & Pollonera, 1882 Limax canapicianus Pollonera, 1885 Limax cephalonicus Simroth, 1886 Limax ciminensis Pollonera, 1890 Limax cinereoniger Wolf, 1803 (syn. Limax alpinus Férussac, 1822)Nitz, B., et al. (2009). Towards a new standard in slug species descriptions: the case of Limax sarnensis Heim & Nitz n. sp. (Pulmonata: Limacidae) from the Western Central Alps. Journal of Molluscan Studies 75(3): 279-294. . Limax conemenosi Böttger, 1882 Limax corsicus Moquin-Tandon, 1855 Limax dacampi Menegazzi, 1854 Limax dacampi dacampi Menegazzi, 1855 Limax dobrogicus Grossu & Lupu, 1960 Limax doriae Bourguignat, 1861 Limax engadinensis Heynemann, 1863 Limax erythrus Bourguignat, 1864 Limax gerhardti Niethammer, 1937 Limax giovannellae Falkner & Niederhöfer, 2008 Limax giustii Falkner & Nitz, 2010 Limax graciadeii Gerhardt, 1940 Limax graecus Simroth, 1889 Limax granosus Bérenguier, 1900 Limax hemmeni Rähle, 1983 Limax ianninii Giusti, 1973 Limax ilvensis Falkner & Nitz, 2010 Limax lachensis Bérenguier, 1900 Limax luctuosus Moquin-Tandon, 1855 Limax maximus Linnaeus, 1758 - great grey slug Limax millipunctatus Pini, 1885 Limax monolineatus Bettoni, 1870 Limax monregalensis Lessona & Pollonera, 1882 Limax pironae Pini, 1876 Limax polipunctatus Pollonera, 1888 Limax pseudocinereoniger Schilthuizen, Thompson, de Vries, van Peursen, Reisinger, Paterno, Maestri, Marcolungo, Esposti, Delledonne & Njunjić, 2022 Limax punctulatus Sordelli, 1871 Limax redii Gerhardt, 1933 Limax samensis Heim & Nitz, 2009 Limax squamosus Bérenguier, 1900 Limax strobeli Pini, 1876 Limax subalpinus Lessona, 1880 Limax tschapecki Simroth, 1886 Limax veronensis Lessona & Pollonera, 1882 Limax vizzavonensis Falkner & Nitz, 2010 Limax wohlberedti Simroth, 1900 Limax wolterstorffi Simroth, 1900 Limax zilchi Grossu & Lupu, 1960
Subgenus Limacus (more often today treated as its own genus)
Limax ecarinatus Boettger, 1881: synonym of Limacus maculatus (Kaleniczenko, 1851) Limax flavus Linnaeus, 1758 yellow garden slug, tawny garden slug: synonym of Limacus flavus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Limax marginatus Müller, 1774 is a synonym for Lehmannia marginata (Müller, 1774) Limax valentianus Férussac, 1822 is a synonym for Ambigolimax valentianus (Férussac, 1822) Limax nyctelius Bourguignat, 1861 is now placed in the genus Letourneuxia but the name has been used for Lehmannia carpatica (Bourguignat, 1861) and Ambigolimax waterstoni Hutchinson, Reise & Schlitt, 2022
References