Limacidae, also known by their common name the keelback slugs, are a taxonomic family of medium-sized to very large, air-breathing land slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Limacoidea.
Limacidae | |
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A live individual of Limax maximus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Gastropoda |
Subclass: | Heterobranchia |
Order: | Stylommatophora |
Superfamily: | Limacoidea |
Family: | Limacidae Lamarck, 1801[1] |
Diversity[2][3] | |
12 genera, many species (more than 56 species) |
The distribution of the family Limacidae is the western Palearctic.[4] There are 28 species of Limacidae in Russia and adjacent countries.[5]
In this family, the number of haploid chromosomes lies between 21 and 25 and also lies between 31 and 35 (according to the values in this table).[6]
Zhiltsov & Schileyko (2002)[7] elevated the subfamily Bielziinae to family level, Bielziidae, based on the morphology of the reproductive system of Bielzia coerulans.[7]
The following two subfamilies were recognized in the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005):
Genera in the family Limacidae include:
subfamily Limacinae
subfamily Eumilacinae
A cladogram showing the phylogenic relationships of this family to other families within the limacoid clade:[4]
Parasites of slugs in this family include larvae of the marsh flies Sciomyzidae, and others.