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Ariostralis nebulosa

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Species of gastropod

Ariostralis nebulosa
Black-and-white photo of a live individual of A. nebulosa
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Heterobranchia

clade Euthyneura
clade Panpulmonata
clade Eupulmonata
clade Stylommatophora

informal group Sigmurethra
Superfamily: Arionoidea
Family: Oopeltidae
Subfamily: Ariopeltinae
Genus: Ariostralis
Species: A. nebulosa
Binomial name
Ariostralis nebulosa
Sirgel, 1985

Ariostralis nebulosa is a species of air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial, pulmonate, gastropod mollusk in the family Oopeltidae.

Distribution

This is a species of non-marine mollusc found in South Africa only.

Ecology

A. nebulosa is readily found throughout the whole year.

A. nebulosa serves as the first intermediate host for a parasite, the brachylaimid trematode Renylaima capensis. Branched, cercariogenous sporocysts of this parasite massively develop in A. nebulosa. These sporocysts are attached to the hepatopancreas, body wall, pallial floor and even to the genital system. This fluke is highly specific at the first intermediate host level.

The forest shrew (Myosorex varius) is a predator of A. nebulosa. There is a possible direct infection of the shrew by the cercariae of R. capensis.

References

  1. ^ Sirgel, W. F.; Artigas, P.; Bargues, M. D.; Mas-Coma, S. (2012). "Life Cycle of Renylaima capensis, a Brachylaimid Trematode of Shrews and Slugs in South Africa: Two-host and Three-host Transmission Modalities Suggested by Epizootiology and DNA Sequencing". Parasites & Vectors 5: 169. doi:10.1186/1756-3305-5-169.
  • This article incorporates CC-BY-2.0 text from the reference "Life Cycle of Renylaima capensis", by Sirgel, Artigas, Bargues & Mas-Coma, 2012.
Taxon identifiers
Ariostralis nebulosa


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