EASIN - European Alien Species Information Network

Thierry BACKELJAU
1/31/2018 8:49 AM

Dear, Currently "Arion lusitanicus" is used in two meanings: (1) as the commmonly known, invasive species that is being spread all over Europe, and (2) as a different, local "endemic" species in Portugal and Spain. When used in this latter sense, i.e. as the endemic Iberian species, the species should be cited as Arion lusitanicus Mabille, 1868. Yet, when used for the European invasive species, it should be cited as Arion lusitanicus auct. ("auct" stands for auctorum). This way of citing Arion lusitanicus explicitly implies that the name is used in the sense of most authors, but not in the sense of its ORIGINAL description by Mabille (1868). Indeed, most authors who use the name Arion lusitanicus, do not use it for the species in the Iberian peninsula, but for the invasive European species (which in fact is a different species). Now because there are so many papers using the name Arion lusitanicus for the invasive species, one could argue that for the sake of nomenclatural stability it might be best to keep on using this name in that sense, i.e. for the invasive species. Yet if so, then the endemic Inberian Arion lusitanicus, i.e. the species described by Mabille in 1868, would need another name. Conversely, one could retain the name Arion lusitanicus for the Iberian species, but in that case the European invasive species would need to be renamed. In this latter scenario, the first available name that could replace the name Arion lusitanicus for the invasive species would be Arion vulgaris Moquin-Tandon, 1855. Currently, this nomenclatural issues has not yet been settled (as far as I know). So in summary, the nomenclature is as follows: Arion lusitanicus Mabille, 1868 = the Iberian endemic species Arion lusitanicus Auct. = Arion vulgaris Moquin-Tandon, 1855 = the European invasive species I hope this clarifies the issue. All the best, Thierry Backeljau

Thread Discussion: Arion vulgaris - Arion lusitanicus [thread closed]