''Rathouisia'' is a genus of carnivorous air-breathing

land slug Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a sm ...

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 family

Rathouisiidae Rathouisiidae is a family of carnivorous air-breathing land slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Veronicelloidea, the leatherleaf slugs and their allies. This family has no subfamilies according to the ''Taxonomy ...

. ''Rathouisia'' is the type genus of the family Rathouisiidae. The generic name ''Rathouisia'' is in honour of French Jesuit

Père A name suffix, in the Western English-language naming tradition, follows a person's full name and provides additional information about the person. Post-nominal letters indicate that the individual holds a position, educational degree, accredita ...

Charles Rathouis Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

(1834–1890), who made scientific drawings for

Pierre Marie Heude Pierre Marie Heude (25 June 1836 – 3 January 1902) was a French Jesuit missionary and zoologist. Life Born at Fougères in the Department of Ille-et-Vilaine, Heude became a Jesuit in 1856 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1867. He went to C ...

Species

Species within the genus ''Rathouisia'' include: * ''

Rathouisia leonina ''Rathouisia leonina'' is a species of carnivorous air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Rathouisiidae. This species is endemic to China. This slug is carnivorous and actively preys on snails. It i ...

'' Heude, 1882 – synonym: ''Vaginulus sinensis'' Heude, 1882 – type species of the genus ''Rathouisia'' * '' Rathouisia pantherina'' Heude, 1882 Heude P. M. (1882–1890)
"Notes sur les Mollusques terrestres de la vallée du Fleuve Bleu"
''Mémoires concernant l'histoire naturelle de l'empire chinois par des pères de la Compagnie de Jésus'', Mision Catholique, Chang-Hai
page 133plate 36
fig. 23. * '' Rathouisia tigrina'' Heude, 1882

Distribution

The predatory carnivorous slugs in the genus ''Rathouisia'' are found in China and Hong Kong.Wu M., Guo J.-Y., Wan F.-H., Qin Q.-L., Wu Q. & Wiktor A. (2006). "A preliminary study of the predatory terrestrial mollusk ''Rathouisia leonina''". ''The Veliger'' 48
61
��74.

References

Rathouisiidae Gastropod genera Gastropods of Asia Taxa named by Pierre Marie Heude {{Heterobranchia-stub