Bielzia coerulans

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.

Bielzia coerulans
Bielzia coerulans
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:
Limacidae
Subfamily:
Limacinae
Genus:
Bielzia

Species:
B. coerulans
Binomial name
Bielzia coerulans
M. Bielz, 1851[2]
Synonyms[3]
  • Limax coerulans Bielz, 1851
  • Limax schwabi Frauenfeld, 1864

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 Eduard Albert Bielz was also a malacologist.)

Bielzia coerulans is the only species in the genus Bielzia.[4]

Some authors, for example Russian malacologists,[3] classify genus Bielzia as the only genus (monotypic) within the separate family, Limacopsidae.[3][5] There is also a separate subfamily, Bielziinae, for genus Bielzia (I. M. Likharev & Wiktor, 1980).

According to the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005), Limacopsidae and Bielziinae are synonyms for Limacinae.[6]

Distribution

This species is endemic to the Carpathian Mountains in Eastern Europe.

The type locality of Bielzia coerulans is South Carpathians in Romania.[3]

Adults of Bielzia coerulans are blue
Juveniles of Bielzia coerulans are brown

Description

This slug turns blue when an adult and becomes 100 – 140 mm in length.[12] 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.[12]

Juveniles are yellowish brown with dark lateral bands.[12]

Reproductive system: Genitalia are without penis.[12] There is only an accessory organ for copulation.[12]

Ecology

Bielzia coerulans inhabits deciduous and coniferous forests in mountains, usually at the bottom, or under dead wood logs.[12]

Maturity is in June to July.[12] Copulation occurs at the soil.[12] There are 30-80 eggs laid in one clutch.[12] Adults die after egg deposition.[12] Half grown juveniles hibernate.[12] Fully grown slugs appear in May.[12]

References

This article incorporates public domain text from the reference.[12]

  1. (in German) Clessin S. (1887). "Die Molluskenfauna Österreich-Ungarns und der Schweiz". pp. 1-858. Nürnberg. (Bauer & Raspe). page 47.
  2. (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.)
  3. 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.
  4. (in Polish) Wiktor A. (1989). Limacoidea et Zonitoidea nuda. Slimaki pomrowioksztaltne (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora). Fauna Poloniae 12, Polska Akademia Nauk, Warszawa, 208 pp., page 178-181.
  5. (in German) Gerhardt U. (16 July 1935). "Weitere Untersuchungen zur Kopulation der Nacktschnecken". Zeitschrift für Morphologie und Ökologie der Tiere 30(2): 297-332. Page 329.
  6. Bouchet, Philippe; Rocroi, Jean-Pierre; Frýda, Jiri; Hausdorf, Bernard; Ponder, Winston; Valdés, Ángel & Warén, Anders (2005). "Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families". Malacologia. Hackenheim, Germany: ConchBooks. 47 (1–2): 1–397. ISBN 3-925919-72-4. ISSN 0076-2997.
  7. Juřičková L., Horsák M. & Beran L. (2001). "Check-list of the molluscs (Mollusca) of the Czech Republic". Acta Soc. Zool. Bohem. 65: 25-40.
  8. "Red List of the molluscs (Mollusca) of the Czech Republic". accessed 9 September 2010.
  9. Lisický M. J. (1991). Mollusca Slovenska. Veda, Bratislava: 1-341.
  10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-07-30. Retrieved 2014-07-28.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. 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.
  12. "Species summary for Bielzia coerulans". AnimalBase, last modified 29 October 2009, accessed 9 September 2010.
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