Prophysaon

Prophysaon
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Heterobranchia

clade Euthyneura
clade Panpulmonata
clade Eupulmonata
clade Stylommatophora
informal group Sigmurethra

Superfamily: Arionoidea
Family: Arionidae
Genus: Prophysaon
Bland & W. G. Binney, 1873[1]

Prophysaon, common name taildropper slugs, is a genus of air-breathing land slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Arionidae, the roundback slugs.

These slugs can self-amputate (autotomy) a portion of their tail.[2] This autotomy has been observed in the species Prophysaon andersoni.[3]

Distribution

This genus of slugs occurs in North America, including California and Oregon.

Species

Species in the genus Prophysaon include 10 species (9 according to Turgeon et al. 1998[4][5] plus one known undescribed species[2]):

References

  1. Bland & Binney W. G. (1873). Ann. Lyceum nat. Hist. N. York 10(3): 921.
  2. 1 2 3 Rory J. Mc Donnel, Timothy D. Paine & Michael J. Gormally. 2009. Slugs: A Guide to the Invasive and Native Fauna of California. 21 pp., ISBN 978-1-60107-564-2. page 9
  3. Hand, C., and W.M. Ingram. 1950. Natural history observations on Prophysaon andersoni (J.G. Cooper) with special reference to amputation. Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences 49: 15-28.
  4. Thomas E. Burke. MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TERRESTRIAL MOLLUSK SPECIES Prophysaon coeruleum, Blue-Gray Taildropper & Prophysaon dubium, Papillose Taildropper http://www.blm.gov/or/plans/surveyandmanage/MR/TM4Species/2000-015_3.pdf
  5. ITIS accessed 17 January 2009.
  6. Roth B. & Sadeghian P. S. 2006. Checklist of the Land Snails and Slugs of California. Contributions in Science 3. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, California. 82 pp.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 3/9/2013. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.