Family RATHOUISIIDAE Heude, 1885

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Introduction

This is a family of carnivorous, primitive slugs. They lack jaws but possess slender dagger-shaped teeth. The Austro-Melanesian species possess, a sharply rounded or keeled notom (Solem 1959). Representatives of the family occur in southern China, Burma and Thailand, through Indonesia, the Philippines, New Guinea to northern and eastern Australia. The Australian species are found in the deep litter of the wet forests of tropical and subtropical eastern Australia, where they may also be seen on the trees.

Iredale (1938) and Burch (1976) considered that the Australian species should be included in Prisma. Smith (1992) followed this placement. However, Boss (1982) and Vaught (1989) considered that Prisma is either a synonym or subgenus of Atopos and this scheme is followed here.

The two species found in Australia are characterized by a sharply rounded or keeled notum, giving the animal an almost triangular cross section.

General References

Boss, K.J. 1982. Mollusca. pp. 945-1166 in Parker, S.P. (ed.). Synopsis and Classification of Living Organisms. New York : McGraw-Hill Book Company Vol. 1. [1083 & 1090]

Burch, J.B. 1976. Outline of classification of Australian terrestrial molluscs (native and introduced). Journal of the Malacological Society of Australia 3: 127-156

Iredale, T. 1938. A basic list of the land Mollusca of Australia. Pt III. The Australian Zoologist 9: 83-124 [Date published 30 Nov. 1938]

Laidlaw, F.F. 1940. Notes on some specimens of the genus Atopos (Mollusca Pulmonata) with microphotographs illustrating points in the anatomy of the genus. Bulletin of the Raffles Museum 16: 121-132

Loch, I. 1981. A slug with an angle. Australian Shell News 33: 6

Solem, A. 1959. Systematics of the land and freshwater Mollusca of the New Hebrides. Fieldiana Zoology 43: 1-234

Stanisic, J. 1998. Family Rathouisiidae. pp. 1064-1065 in Beesley, P.L., Ross, G.J.B. & Wells, A. (eds). Mollusca: The Southern Synthesis. Fauna of Australia. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing Vol. 5(Part B) pp. vi–viii, 565–1234.

Vaught, K.C. 1989. In Abbott, R.T. & Boss, K.J. (eds) A Classification of the Living Mollusca. American Malacologists Inc. : Melbourne xii 195 pp.

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