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.
Distribution
The natural distribution of the family Limacidae is the Western Palaearctic and into adjacent parts of Asia, but species such as Limacus flavus, Limax maximus and Ambigolimax valentianus have been introduced almost worldwide in temperate regions. There are 28 species of Limacidae in Russia and adjacent countries.
Cytology
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).
Genera
Currently recognised genera in the family Limacidae are:
subfamily Eumilacinae Likharev & Wiktor, 1980
Eumilax O. Boettger, 1881 - type genus of the subfamily Eumilacinae
Metalimax Simroth, 1896
subfamily Limacinae Batsch, 1789
Ambigolimax Pollonera, 1887; formerly considered a subgenus of Lehmannia
Bielzia Clessin, 1887 – with the only species Bielzia coerulans M. Bielz, 1851. Some authors, for example Russian malacologists, have classified Bielzia within its own family Bielzidae (= Limacopsidae) or subfamily Bielzinae, but a molecular phylogeny has subsequently placed it within Limacinae.
Caspilimax P. Hesse, 1926
Gigantomilax O. Boettger, 1883
Lehmannia Heynemann, 1863; formerly considered a subgenus of Limax
Limacus Lehmann, 1864; sometimes considered a subgenus of Limax
Limax Linnaeus, 1758 – type genus of Limacidae; c. half the recognised species in the family
Malacolimax Malm, 1868; formerly considered a subgenus of Limax
Svanetia Hesse, 1926
Turcomilax Simroth, 1902
Weltersia Giusti et al. 2021 – with the only species W. obscura Giusti et al. 2021
Cladograms
A cladogram showing the phylogenic relationships of this family to other families within the limacoid clade:
