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.

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:

• Limax aeolianus Giusti, 1973

• Limax albipes Dumont & Mortillet, 1853

• Limax amaliae Bettoni, 1870

• Limax bielzii Seibert, 1873

• Limax brandstetteri Falkner, 2008

• 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)

• 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