Arion ater subsp. ruber

To find the appropriate name for the FR morphotype, we sought post-1758 descriptions of rufus -like slugs from continental Europe. We believe the name having priority is Limax ruber Garsault, 1764, which GARSAULT (1767: 376) described as a red brown slug, larger than Helix pomatia. His illustration (GARSAULT 1764: pl. 644; https://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/id/ PPN496755056) is recognisably an Arion species on account of the position of the pneumostome. Judging from other illustrations, the pale lateral band in this illustration is merely the artist’s device to indicate the round form. No locality was given, but the neighbourhood of Paris, where Garsault worked (WELTER-SCHULTES et al. 2008) is the most reasonable assumption. This would be compatible with occurrences of fr in that area (ZEMANOVA et al. 2016). However, it would be desirable to designate a neotype to remove all doubt about the correspondence of ruber with the FR morphotype, as is our future intention. The name of the FR morphotype becomes A. ater ruber (Garsault, 1764), corresponding to ROWSON et al.’s (2014a) Arion cf. empiricorum and CHEVALLIER’ s (1972, 1974) A. rufus collingei.
Published as part of Reise, Heike, Schwarzer, Anne-Katrin, Hutchinson, John M. C. & Schlitt, Bettina, 2020, Genital morphology differentiates three subspecies of the terrestrial slug Arion ater (Linnæus, 1758) s. l. and reveals a continuum of intermediates with the invasive A. vulgaris Moquin-Tandon, 1855, pp. 1-34 in Folia Malacologica 28 (1) on page 29, DOI: 10.12657/folmal.028.001, http://zenodo.org/record/4615365
{"references":["GARSAULT F. A. P. DE 1764. Les figures des plantes et an- imaux d'usage en medecine, decrits dans la Matiere Medicale de Mr. Geoffroy medecin, dessines d'apres nature par Mr. de Garsault, graves par Mrs. Defehrt, Prevost, Duflos, Martinet & c. Niquet scrip. Vol. 5. Paris. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 49481","GARSAULT F. A. P. DE 1767. Description, vertus et usages de sept cents dix-neuf plantes, tant etrangeres que de nos climats; et de cent trente-quatre animaux, en sept cents trente planches, gravees en taille-douce, sur les desseins d'apres nature, de M. de Garsault, par MM. de Fehrt, Prevost, Duflos, Martinet, & c. Et rangees suivant l'ordre du livre intitule Matiere Medicale de M. Geoffroy. Ouvrage utile a toutes matieres medicales, aux artistes, aux personnes charitables, & a tous ceux qui preparent eux-memes leurs medicaments. Didot, Paris.","WELTER- SCHULTES F. W., KLUG R., LUTZE A. 2008. Les figures des plantes et animaux d'usage en medecine, a rare work published by F. A. P. de Garsault in 1764. Archives of Natural History 35: 118 - 127. https: // doi. org / 10.3366 / E 0260954108000119","ZEMANOVA M. A., KNOP E., HECKEL G. 2016. Phylogeographic past and invasive presence of Arion pest slugs in Europe. Molecular Ecology 25: 5747 - 5764. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / mec. 13860"]}