Ariolimacidae

Family Ariolimacidae Pilsbry & Vanatta, 1898

The Ariolimacidae is a western North America group of five or six genera with species distributed from Alaska to southern California. Included in this family are the well-known bananaslugs, genus Ariolimax. Two lesser-known ariolimacids, which live in the mountainous southern interior of British Columbia, have been assessed by COSEWIC (2012, 2016). This group was for many years treated as a subfamily (Ariolimacinae) of Arionidae.


Subfamily Ariolimacinae Pilsbry & Vanatta, 1898

Genus Ariolimax Mörch, 1859

  • Ariolimax Mörch 1859: 110; type species by monotypy: Limax columbianus Gould in A. Binney, 1851.

Etymology. Formed by the combination of Arion + Limax. Masculine.

Sugenus Ariolimax Mörch, 1859

Ariolimax (Ariolimax) columbianus (Gould in A. Binney, 1851)


Genus Magnipelta Pilsbry, 1953

  • Magnipelta Pilsbry 1953: 37; type species by monotypy: Magnipelta mycophaga Pilsbry, 1953.

Etymology. Latin: magni, large + Greek: pelta, a shield, which is a reference to the large mantle.

Magnipelta mycophaga Pilsbry, 1953


Subfamily Zacoleinae Webb, 1959

Genus Zacoleus Pilsbry, 1903

  • Zacoleus Pilsbry 1903: 626; type species by monotypy: Z. idahoensis Pilsbry, 1903.

Etymology. Greek: za, an intensive prefix + koleos, sheath, which was intended to be “an allusion to the enlarged spermathecal duct” (Pilsbry 1948).

Zacoleus idahoensis Pilsbry, 1903