Limax

Salvador, Rodrigo B., 2014, The fossil land and freshwater snails of Gündlkofen (Middle Miocene, Germany), Zootaxa 3785 (2), pp. 271-287 : 278-279

Limax sp.

( Fig. 21)

Material examined. BSPG 1952 XVIII 3 (15 spcm.), 39 (19 spcm), 40 (7 spcm.).

Description. Shell small, vestigial, oval; shell width ~2/3 length. Nucleus slightly bent laterally; nucleus region higher than remainder of shell. Shell with marked concentric growth lines.

Previous identification of the material. Gall (1980: Nr. 6, 7 and 8): respectively, Limax sp., Milax sp. and Parmacella sp.

Discussion. The shells of limacids are vestigial and internal and thus of very limited taxonomical value. As such, the identification of the present material cannot proceed further than genus level. The genus Limax is known in Europe from the Late Oligocene onwards (Zilch 1959–1960).

Gall (1980) identified some specimens as belonging to the genera Parmacella Cuvier and Milax Grey. The shell of Parmacella slugs are also vestigial, but exhibit a very characteristic inflated and prominent protoconch. This diagnostic feature is not present in the specimens from Gündlkofen. The shells of Milax are inflated and markedly convex, with a central elevated nucleus, features that cannot be seen in the present specimens.

Paleoecological remarks. Recent Limax species occupy a variety of habitats, but usually live in damp leaf litter ( Welter-Schultes 2012).