- Source: Arion (gastropod)
Arion is a genus of air-breathing land slugs in the family Arionidae, the roundback slugs. Most species of this Palearctic genus are native to the Iberian Peninsula.
Species can be difficult to distinguish from one another upon cursory examination, because individuals of a species can vary in color and there are few obvious differences between taxa. The color of an individual can be influenced by its diet.
Some Arion are known as pests, such as A. lusitanicus auct. non Mabille (= A. vulgaris), which damages agricultural crops and ornamental plants, and A. rufus, a familiar garden pest. Arion slugs are often transported internationally in shipments of plant products and mushrooms. Arion slugs have been identified in North America and Australia as invasive species, altering the plants of ecosystems through seed predation and competing with native slugs.
Species
There are approximately 40 species in the genus.
Species include:
Arion ater (Linnaeus, 1758) – black slug
Arion circumscriptus Johnston, 1828 – brown-banded arion
Arion distinctus Mabille, 1868 – darkface arion
Arion fasciatus (Nilsson, 1823) – orange-banded arion
Arion flagellus Collinge, 1893
Arion fuscus (O.F.Müller, 1774)
Arion hortensis Férussac, 1819 – small striped slug
Arion intermedius Normand, 1852 (syn. Arion alpinus Pollonera, 1887) – hedgehog slug
Arion lusitanicus Mabille, 1868
Arion obesoductus (syn. Arion alpinus auctt. non Pollonera, 1887)
Arion occultus R.Anderson, 2004
Arion owenii Davies, 1979 – warty arion
Arion rufus (Linnaeus, 1758) – red slug
Arion silvaticus Lohmander, 1937 – forest arion
Arion simrothi Künkel, 1909
Arion subfuscus (Draparnaud, 1805) – dusky arion
Arion transsylvanus Simroth, 1885
Arion vulgaris Moquin-Tandon, 1855 (syn. Arion lusitanicus auct. non Mabille) – Spanish slug
= Also included
=Arion vejdorskyi, a taxon with unclear taxonomic position
Etymology
The name Arion is in reference to Aelion's De Natura Animalium, which features a story about areíones - snails which leave their shells behind to feed, thus outsmarting predators who attack the empty shells.
References
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- Arion (gastropod)
- Arion (disambiguation)
- Red slug
- Black slug
- Spanish slug
- Arion fuscus
- Arion lusitanicus
- Arion hortensis
- Arion subfuscus
- Arion intermedius
