Deroceras juranum

Deroceras juranum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Panpulmonata clade Eupulmonata clade Stylommatophora informal group Sigmurethra clade limacoid clade
Superfamily:	Limacoidea
Family:	Agriolimacidae
Subfamily:	Agriolimacinae
Genus:	Deroceras
Subgenus:	Deroceras
Species:	D. juranum
Binomial name
Deroceras juranum Wüthrich, 1993[1]

Deroceras juranum is a species of air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Agriolimacidae.

Taxonomy

Wüthrich (1993)^[1] described Deroceras juranum from the Jura Mountains in Switzerland, distinguishing it from the co-occurring Deroceras rodnae on the basis of Deroceras juranum's distinct violet coloration. Later the same coloration was found in Austrian populations by Jordaens et al. (1998)^[2] and in other species of Deroceras by Reise & Hutchinson (2001).^[3] Reise (1997)^[4] demonstrated that the violet coloration was controlled by a single Mendelian-inherited gene and thus considered Deroceras juranum to be a variety of Deroceras rodnae. It is treated thus in Wiktor’s (2000)^[5] monograph of the Agriolimacidae.

Hutchinson & Reise (2009)^[6] later realised that what had been considered Deroceras rodnae was actually two species with radically different mating behaviours and consistent, although subtle, differences in morphology. Molecular analyses supported this distinction. The more easterly distributed species can retain the name Deroceras rodnae, and the westerly distributed species must, somewhat confusingly, take the name Deroceras juranum.

Description

Externally Deroceras juranum is indistinguishable from many other Deroceras, such as Deroceras praecox, Deroceras rodnae, Deroceras turcicum and Deroceras reticulatum. It is polymorphic in colour.^[4] Identifications to species level require dissection: illustrations of the genitalia are depicted in work by Hutchinson & Reise (2009).^[6]

Distribution

Hutchinson & Reise (2009)^[6] confirmed that, besides the type locality in Jura Mountains of Switzerland, other populations in the Swiss Jura Mountains, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic were Deroceras juranum. Earlier records of Deroceras rodnae s. l. from the west of its range are liable to refer to Deroceras juranum, but identifications from Spain and Italy have been questioned.^[6]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Wüthrich, A. (1993). "Deroceras (Plathystimulus) juranum n. sp., eine endemische Nacktschnecke aus dem Schweizer Jura". Archiv für Molluskenkunde 122: 123–131. 
2. ^ Jordaens, K., Backeljau, T., Reise, H., Van Riel, P. & Verhagen, R. (1998). "First record of Deroceras juranum outside the Jura mountains (Pulmonata: Agriolimacidae)". Journal of Molluscan Studies 64 (4): 495–499.  doi:10.1093/mollus/64.4.495
3. ^ Reise, H. & Hutchinson, J.M.C (2001). "Morphological variation in terrestrial slug Deroceras turcicum (Simroth, 1894), and a northern extension of its range in Central Europe". Folia Malacoloica 9: 63–71. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Reise, H. (1997). "Deroceras juranum — a Mendelian colour morph of D. rodnae (Gastropoda: Agriolimacidae)". Journal of Zoology 241: 103–115. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1997.tb05502.x. 
5. ^ Wiktor, A. (2000). "Agriomilacidae (Gastropoda: Pulmonata) — a systematic monograph". Annales Zoologici 49: 347–590. 
6. ^ ^{a b c d} Hutchinson, J.M.C. & Reise, H. (2009). "Mating behaviour clarifies the taxonomy of slug species defined by genital anatomy: the Deroceras rodnae complex in the Sächsische Schweiz and elsewhere.". Mollusca 27: 183–200. http://www.senckenberg.de/files/content/forschung/abteilung/zoologie/malakologie/malak/hutch/hutchpub/moll1.htm.