Athoracophoridae,

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contra ...

the leaf-veined slugs, are a

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

of air-breathing land slugs,

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

pulmonate gastropod

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is es ...

s in the

infraorder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

Stylommatophora Stylommatophora is an orderPhilippe Bouchet, Jean-Pierre Rocroi, Bernhard Hausdorf, Andrzej Kaim, Yasunori Kano, Alexander Nützel, Pavel Parkhaev, Michael Schrödl and Ellen E. Strong. 2017. Revised Classification, Nomenclator and Typification ...

, the stalk-eyed snails and slugs. Many of the species have an attractive pattern on their dorsal surface which resembles the veins in a

leaf A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

, hence the common name. Athoracophoridae is the only family in the superfamily Athoracophoroidea. Leaf-veined slugs live on the various land masses and islands in the south-west

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

area. The scientific name Athoracophoridae is derived from prefix "a-", that means "without" and from a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

word "" (), that means "

breastplate A breastplate or chestplate is a device worn over the torso to protect it from injury, as an item of religious significance, or as an item of status. A breastplate is sometimes worn by mythological beings as a distinctive item of clothing. It is ...

". This is a reference to the fact that the mantle in these slugs is small and not well delineated; it does not have the obvious, saddle-shaped or breast-plate-shaped appearance that it does in most other land slug groups.

Anatomy

In the family Athoracophoridae (in subfamily Aneitinae and in subfamily Athoracophorinae), the number of haploid

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins ar ...

s lies between 36 and 45 (according to the values in this table).Barker G. M.: Gastropods on Land: ''Phylogeny, Diversity and Adaptive Morphology''. in Barker G. M. (ed.):
The biology of terrestrial molluscs
'. CABI Publishing, Oxon, UK, 2001, . 1-146, cited pages: 139 and 142. While they belong to the pulmonate snails, they lack a true lung. The vascularized mantle cavity is reduced, and a series of blind tubules radiate from it, being surrounded blood vessels. This allows for a more compact lung structure in these generally flat animals.

Distribution

Species in this family are found in eastern Australia,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

including its

sub-Antarctic The sub-Antarctic zone is a region in the Southern Hemisphere, located immediately north of the Antarctic region. This translates roughly to a latitude of between 46° and 60° south of the Equator. The subantarctic region includes many islands ...

islands,

Bismarck Archipelago The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about 50,000 square km. History The first inhabitants o ...

, the

Admiralty Islands The Admiralty Islands are an archipelago group of 18 islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the South Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island. These rainforest-co ...

, the

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium (french: link=no, Condominium des Nouvelles-Hébrides, "Condominium of the New Hebrides") and named after the Hebrides Scottish archipelago, was the colonial name for the island group ...

, New Caledonia, as well as on the

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, ...

n islands north to New Caledonia and

New Britain New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the D ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

Taxonomy

The following two

subfamilies In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

have been recognized in the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005), that follows classification after Grimpe & Hoffmann (1925): * Athoracophorinae P. Fischer, 1883 (1860) - synonym: Janellidae Gray, 1853 (inv.) - a

subantarctic The sub-Antarctic zone is a region in the Southern Hemisphere, located immediately north of the Antarctic region. This translates roughly to a latitude of between 46° and 60° south of the Equator. The subantarctic region includes many islands ...

subfamilyBurton D. W. (1982)
"How to be sluggish."
''Tuatara'' 25(2): 48-63

* Aneitinae Gray, 1860 - a northern subfamily The name Athoracophoridae has precedence over the name Aneitidae, because Athoracophoridae is in prevailing usage.

Genera

Genera within the family Athoracophoridae include: Powell A. W. B. (1979). ''New Zealand Mollusca'', William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand, * '' Aneitea'' Gray, 1860 ** '' Aneitea sarasini'' * ''

Athoracophorus ''Athoracophorus'' is a genus of air-breathing, land slugs, Terrestrial animal, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the family (biology), family Athoracophoridae. Species Species in the genus ''Athoracophorus'' include: * ''Athoracopho ...

'' Gould, 1852 - the type genus, 3 species * '' Palliopodex'' Burton, 1963 - with the only species '' Palliopodex verrucosus'' (Simroth, 1889) * '' Pseudaneitea'' Cockerell, 1891 * ''

Reflectopallium ''Pseudaneitea'' is a genus of air-breathing land slugs, terrestrial gastropod molluscs in the family Athoracophoridae, the leaf-veined slugs. Species The following species are recognised in the genus ''Pseudaneitea'': *'' Pseudaneitea aspe ...

'' Burton, 1963 * ''

Triboniophorus ''Triboniophorus'' is a genus of air-breathing land slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the family Athoracophoridae, the leaf-veined slugs. Species Species within this genus include: * ''Triboniophorus graeffei'' Humbert, 1863 � ...

'' Humbert, 1863

References

'' 9: 259-260. * Burton D. W. (1962)
"New Zealand land slugs — Part 1"
''Tuatara'' 9(8): 87-97. * Burton D. W. (1963)

''Tuatara'' 11(2): 90-96. * Burton D. W. (1980). "Anatomical studies on Australian, New Zealand and sub-antarctic Athoracophoridae (Gastropoda : Pulmonata)". ''New Zealand Journal of Zoology'' 7: 173-198. * Burton D. W. (1981). "Pallial systems in the Athoracophoridae (Gastropoda: Pulmonata)". ''New Zealand Journal of Zoology'' 8: 391-402. * Forcart L. (1973). "Notes on Veronicellidae and Athoracophoridae in Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago". ''Nautilus'' 87: 25-27. * Grimpe G. & Hoffmann H. (1924). "Diagnosen neuer Athoracophoriden (Gastropoda, Pulmonata)". ''Zoologischer Anzeiger'' 58: 171-177. * Oberzeller E. (1970). "Ergebnisse der Österreichischen Neukaledonien-Expedition 1965. Terrestrische Gastropoda II: Veronicellidae und Athoracophoridae." ''

Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien ''Annalen'' may refer to: * ''Annalen der Physik'', a physics journal * '' Crell's Annalen'', a chemistry journal * ''Liebigs Annalen'', a chemistry journal * ''Mathematische Annalen ''Mathematische Annalen'' (abbreviated as ''Math. Ann.'' or, ...

'' 74: 325-341
PDF
* Plate L. H. (1898). "Beitrage zur Anatomie und Systematik der Janelliden". ''Zoologische Jahrbucher. Abtheilung fur Anatomie und Ontogenie der Thiere'' (Jena) XI: 193-269. * Suter H. (1897). "A revision of New Zealand Athoracophoridae". ''Journal of Molluscan Studies'' 2(6): 245-257
abstract
* Suter H. (1913). ''Manual of the New Zealand Mollusca''. (Athoracophoridae, pp
789
808, pl
31
figs. 3-13.) * Stanisic J. (1998). "Family Athoracophoridae". pp. 1109-1110. In: Beesley P. L., Ross G. J. B. & Wells A. (eds). ''Mollusca: The Southern Synthesis. Fauna of Australia''. Melbourne, CSIRO Publishing Vol. 5, Part B, pp. vi-viii, 565-1234.

External links

"Athoracophoridae"
Australian Government.
AMNH
{{Taxonbar, from=Q146753, from2=Q19789333