Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Spiralia
Cladus: Lophotrochozoa
Phylum: Mollusca
Classis: Gastropoda
Subclassis: Heterobranchia
Infraclassis: Euthyneura
Cohors: Tectipleura
Subcohors: Panpulmonata
SuperOrdo: Eupulmonata
Ordo: Stylommatophora
SubOrdo: Helicina
InfraOrdo: Arionoidei
Superfamilia: Arionoidea
Familia: Arionidae
Genus: Arion
Subgenera: A. (Arion) – A. (Carinarion) – A. (Kobeltia) – A. (Mesarion)
Overview of Species: A. alpinus – A. ater – A. distinctus – A. fuscus – A. rufus – A. vulgaris
Name
Arion Férussac, 1819
Type Species: Arion empiricorum Férussac, 1819 = Arion ater (Linnaeus, 1758), in part
References
Férussac, A.É.J.P.J.F d'A. 1819. Histoire naturelle générale et particulière des Mollusques terrestres et fluviatiles. Arthus–Bertrand, Paris. 2: xvi + 96 pl.
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.[2]
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.[3] The color of an individual can be influenced by its diet.[4]
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.[5] Arion slugs are often transported internationally in shipments of plant products and mushrooms.[6] 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. [7]
Species
There are approximately 40 species in the genus.[4][8]
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[9]) – hedgehog slug
Arion lusitanicus Mabille, 1868
Arion obesoductus (syn. Arion alpinus auctt. non Pollonera, 1887[9])
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[10]
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 from Neo-Latin, from the Greek areíones, a “kind of snail or slug.”[11]
References
Férussac, A. E. and G. Deshayes. 1819–1851. Histoire naturelle générale et particulière des mollusques terrestres et fluviatiles, tant des espèces que l'on trouve aujourd'hui vivantes, que des dépouilles fossiles de celles qui n'existent plus; classés d'après les caractères essentiels que présentent ces animaux et leurs coquilles. pp. Tome 1: 8 + 184 pp.; Tome 2 (1): 402 pp.; 2 (2): 260 + 22 + 16 pp.; Atlas 1: 70 pl.; Atlas 2: 166 + 5 pl.. Paris. (J.-B. Bailliere).
Quinteiro, J., et al. (2005). Phylogeny of slug species of the genus Arion: evidence of monophyly of Iberian endemics and of the existence of relict species in Pyrenean refuges. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 43(2), 139-48.
Skujienė, G. and M. Soroka. (2003). A comparison of different DNA extraction methods for slugs (Mollusca: Pulmonata). Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Ekologija 1, 12-16.
Jordaens, K., et al. (2001). Food-induced body pigmentation questions the taxonomic value of colour in the self-fertilizing slug Carinarion spp.[dead link] Journal of Molluscan Studies 67(2), 161-67.
Soroka, M., et al. (2008). Distribution and genetic diversity of the terrestrial slugs Arion lusitanicus Mabille, 1868 and Arion rufus (Linnaeus, 1758) in Poland based on mitochondrial DNA. Folia Biologica 57(1-2), 1-2.
Barr, N. B., et al. (2009). Application of a DNA barcode using the 16S rRNA gene to diagnose pest Arion species in the USA. Journal of Molluscan Studies 75(2), 187-91.
Zemanova, Miriam; Broenniman, Olivier; Guisan, Antoine; Knop, Eva; Heckel, Gerard (13 June 2018). "Slimy invasion: Climatic niche and current and future biogeography of Arion slug invaders". Diversity and Distributions: A Journal of Conservation Biogeography. 24 (11). Retrieved 12 July 2020.
"Arion". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
Manganelli, G., et al. (2010). The status of Arion alpinus Pollonera 1887, and re-description of Arion obesoductus Reischütz 1973 (Gastropoda, Arionidae). Journal of Conchology 40, 269-76.
Jordaens, K., et al. (2010). Arion transsylvanus (Mollusca, Pulmonata, Arionidae): rediscovery of a cryptic species. Zoologica Scripta 39(4), 343-62. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2010.00425.x.
"Definition of ARION". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
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