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]
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 Spain, France, Greece and Arizona;[5]
Lehmannia carpatica occurs mostly at high altitudes along the chain of the Carpathian Mountains and in other ranges further south from Albania to Bulgaria;[6]
Simroth and Pollonera used the species name nyctelia for a poorly known species from North Africa attributed to the genus Malacolimax.[7][8]
^ abHutchinson, John M.C.; Reise, Heike; Schlitt, Bettina (30 June 2022). "Will the real Limax nyctelius please step forward: Lehmannia, Ambigolimax, or Malacolimax? No, Letourneuxia!". Archiv für Molluskenkunde. 151 (1): 19–41. doi:10.1127/arch.moll/151/019-041.
^"Ambigolimax nyctelius (Bourguignat, 1861)". Molluscabase. Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
^"Letourneuxia nyctelia (Bourguignat, 1861)". Molluscabase. Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
^"Ambigolimax waterstoni Hutchinson, Reise & Schlitt, 2022". Molluscabase. Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
^"Ambigolimax parvipenis Hutchinson, Reise & Schlitt, 2022". Molluscabase. Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
^"Lehmannia carpatica Hutchinson, Reise & Schlitt, 2022". Molluscabase. Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
^Simroth, H. (1885). "Versuch einer Naturgeschichte der deutschen Nacktschnecken und ihrer europäischen Verwandten". Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Zoologie. 42: 203–366, pls 7–11.
^Pollonera, C. (1891). "Appunti di malacologia. VIII. Sui Limacidi dell'Algeria". Bollettino dei Musei di Zoologia ed Anatomia Comparata della Reale Università di Torino. 6 (100): 1–5.
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The name Ambigolimaxnyctelius (and similarly Lehmannia nyctelia and Limax nyctelius) has been used to refer to several species of air-breathing land...
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mitochondrial gene. The species later named Ambigolimax parvipenis was at that time referred to as Ambigolimaxnyctelius (Bourguignat, 1861) because of some similarity...
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