Bielzia
| Bielzia | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Order: | Stylommatophora |
| Family: | Limacidae |
| Genus: | Bielzia Clessin, 1887[2] |
| Species: | B. coerulans
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| Binomial name | |
| Bielzia coerulans (M. Bielz, 1851)[1]
| |
| |
| Range of B. coerulans Extant, resident
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| Synonyms[3] | |
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Bielzia coerulans, commonly known as the Carpathian blue slug or simply the blue slug, is a species of very large land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod in the family Limacidae, the keelback slugs.
Taxonomy
Bielzia coerulans was discovered in 1847 and described under the name Limax coerulans by Austrian–Hungarian malacologist Michael Bielz (1787–1866) in 1851. (His son E.A. Bielz was also a malacologist.)
Bielzia coerulans is the only species in the genus Bielzia.[4]
Some authors, for example Russian malacologists, have classified Bielzia as the only genus (monotypic) within the family Bielzidae (= Limacopsidae)[5][3][6] or the subfamily Bielziinae (I.M. Likharev & Wiktor, 1980).[7] These opinions have since turned out to be incompatible with the phylogeny based on DNA sequences, which places Bielzia as most closely related to limacid genera such as Ambigolimax and Lehmannia.[8] Thus the Limacopsidae and Bielziinae are synonyms of Limacidae and Limacinae.[9]
Distribution
This species is endemic to the Carpathian Mountains in Central and Eastern Europe.
The type locality of Bielzia coerulans is the South Carpathians in Romania.[3]
- Czech Republic - in Moravia only, vulnerable (VU) in Moravia[10][11]
- Southern Poland[4]
- Slovakia[12]
- Ukraine[3]
- Romania[3]
- Hungary[13]
- Germany (presumed introduction in Westerwald, Rhineland-Palatinate, discovered 2012)[14]
Description
This slug turns blue when an adult and becomes 100 – 140 mm in length.[15] It is evenly blue or bluish green (occasionally black) with a dark greyish head and tentacles, and margins pale yellowish, sole pale yellowish or whitish.[15]
Juveniles are yellowish brown with dark lateral bands.[15]
Reproductive system: Genitalia are without penis.[15] There is only an accessory organ for copulation.[15]
Ecology
Bielzia coerulans inhabits deciduous and coniferous forests in mountains, usually at the bottom, or under dead wood logs.[15]
Maturity is in June to July.[15] Copulation occurs at the soil.[15] There are 30-80 eggs laid in one clutch.[15] Adults die after egg deposition.[15] Half grown juveniles hibernate.[15] Fully grown slugs appear in May.[15]
References
This article incorporates public domain text from the reference.[15]
- ^ (in German) Bielz M. (1851). "Verzeichniss der Land- und Süsswasser-Mollusken Siebenbürgens". Verhandlungen und Mittheilungen des Siebenbürgischen Vereins für Naturwissenschaften in Hermannstadt 2: 14-16, 55-59, 62-65. (Limax coerulans is on the page 14.)
- ^ (in German) Clessin S. (1887). "Die Molluskenfauna Österreich-Ungarns und der Schweiz". pp. 1-858. Nürnberg. (Bauer & Raspe). page 47.
- ^ a b c d e Kantor Yu I., Vinarski M. V., Schileyko A. A. & Sysoev A. V.(published online on December 22, 2009). "Catalogue of the continental mollusks of Russia and adjacent territories". Version 2.3. Archived 2018-12-22 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Wiktor, A.J. (1989). Limacoidea et Zonitoidea nuda. Slimaki pomrowioksztaltne (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora). Fauna Poloniae 12 (in Polish). Warsaw: Polska Akademia Nauk. pp. 178–181.
- ^ Gerhadt, U. (1935). "Weitere Untersuchungen zur Kopulation der Nacktschnecken". Zeitschrift für Morphologie und Ökologie der Tiere. 30 (2): 297–332. doi:10.1007/BF00406231.
- ^ Zhiltsov, S.S.; Schileyko, A.A. (2002). "Строение полового аппарата Bielzia coerulans (Gastropoda, Pulmonata) и филогенетические связи рода Bielzia" [Morphology of reproductive system of Bielzia coerulans (Gastropoda, Pulmonata) and phylogenetic relations of the genus Bielzia]. Ruthenica (in Russian). 12: 73–79.
- ^ Likharev, I.M.; Wiktor, A.J. (1980). Слизни фауны СССР и сопредельных стран (Gastropoda Terrestria Nuda). Fauna SSSR (Novaja serija 122) 3(5): 1–437 [The fauna of slugs of the USSR and adjacent countries (Gastropoda Terrestria Nuda)] (in Russian).
- ^ Hutchinson, JMC; Schlitt, B; Reise, H (2026). "Ambigolimax, Lehmannia and other limacid slugs (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora); what their DNA tells us about phylogeny, taxonomy and phylogeography". Journal of Molluscan Studies. 92 (1) eyaf031. doi:10.1093/mollus/eyaf031.
- ^ Bouchet, Philippe; Rocroi, Jean-Pierre; Frýda, Jiri; Hausdorf, Bernard; Ponder, Winston; Valdés, Ángel & Warén, Anders (2005). "Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families". Malacologia. 47 (1–2). Hackenheim, Germany: ConchBooks: 1–397. ISBN 3-925919-72-4. ISSN 0076-2997.
- ^ Juřičková L., Horsák M. & Beran L. (2001). "Check-list of the molluscs (Mollusca) of the Czech Republic". Acta Soc. Zool. Bohem. 65: 25-40.
- ^ "Red List of the molluscs (Mollusca) of the Czech Republic". accessed 9 September 2010.
- ^ Lisický M. J. (1991). Mollusca Slovenska. Veda, Bratislava: 1-341.
- ^ Turóci, Á.; Páll-Gergely, B. (2025). Magyarország meztelencsigái (PDF). Martonvásár: HUN-REN Agrártudományi Kutatóközpont. ISBN 9789638351548.
- ^ Wiese, V.; Glasow, M. von D. (2013). "Blauschnegel Bielzia coerulans (M. Bielz 1851) in Deutschland (Gastropoda: Limacidae)" (PDF). Mitteilungen der Deutschen Malakozoologischen Gesellschaft. 89: 43–46. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2014-11-21.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Species summary for Bielzia coerulans". AnimalBase, last modified 29 October 2009, accessed 9 September 2010.
Media related to Bielzia coerulans at Wikimedia Commons