EASIN - European Alien Species Information Network

Kostas Tsiamis
12/15/2017 - 2:31 PM

Thread Opening Text:
Dear Editorial Board Member,

We would appreciate your advice if the following species are considered nowadays as synonyms or not.
Arion vulgaris and Arion lusitanicus.
In EASIN they are listed as synonyms but this has been questioned by an EASIN user.

Thank you.

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

Kostas Tsiamis
1/31/2018 - 9:05 AM

Thread Closing Text:
Arion lusitanicus to be changed to Arion vulgaris and put in synonymy Arion lusitanicus Auct.

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