Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Prophysaon

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Kingdom
  
Animalia

Family
  
Arionidae

Phylum
  
Mollusca

Rank
  
Genus

Superfamily
  
Arionoidea

Scientific name
  
Prophysaon

Higher classification
  
Arionidae

Prophysaon idtoolsorgidmolluscimagesfsimagesprophysaon

Similar
  
Prophysaon andersoni, Gastropods, Molluscs, Arionidae, Hemphillia

Prophysaon, common name taildropper slugs, is a genus of air-breathing land slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Arionidae, the roundback slugs.

Contents

These slugs can self-amputate (autotomy) a portion of their tail. This autotomy has been observed in the species Prophysaon andersoni.

Distribution

This genus of slugs occurs in North America, including California and Oregon.

Species

Species in the genus Prophysaon include 10 species (9 according to Turgeon et al. 1998 plus one known undescribed species):

  • Prophysaon andersoni (J. G. Cooper, 1872) - Reticulate Taildropper, Anderson's Taildropper Slug
  • Prophysaon boreale Pilsbry, 1948 - Northern Taildropper
  • Prophysaon coeruleum Cockerell, 1890 - Blue-Gray Taildropper
  • Prophysaon dubium Cockerell, 1890 - Papillose Taildropper
  • Prophysaon fasciatum Cockerell in W. G. Binney - Banded Taildropper
  • Prophysaon foliolatum (Gould, 1851) - Yellow-bordered Taildropper
  • Prophysaon humile Cockerell, 1890 - Smoky Taildropper
  • Prophysaon obscurum (Cockerell, 1890) - Mottled Taildropper
  • Prophysaon vanattae Pilsbry, 1948 - Scarlet-backed Taildropper
  • Prophysaon vanattae var. pardalis
  • Prophysaon undescribed species from Siskiyou County, California.

    • References

    Prophysaon Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA