Athoracophoridae
Athoracophoridae, common name the leaf-veined slugs, are a family of air-breathing land slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the infraorder Stylommatophora, the stalk-eyed snails and slugs. Many of the species have an attractive pattern on their dorsal surface which resembles the veins in a leaf, hence the common name.
| Athoracophoridae | |
|---|---|
| Two individuals of Triboniophorus graeffei | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Heterobranchia |
| Order: | Stylommatophora |
| Superfamily: | Athoracophoroidea P. Fischer, 1883 (1860) |
| Family: | Athoracophoridae P. Fischer, 1883 (1860) |
| Subfamilies | |
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Athoracophoridae is the only family in the superfamily Athoracophoroidea.
Leaf-veined slugs live on the various land masses and islands in the south-west Pacific area. In te reo Māori, leaf-veined slugs are known as putoko ropiropi.
The scientific name Athoracophoridae is derived from prefix "a-", that means "without" and from a Greek word "θωραχοφὁρος" (thorachoforos), that means "breastplate". This is a reference to the fact that the mantle in these slugs is small and not well delineated; it does not have the obvious, saddle-shaped or breast-plate-shaped appearance that it does in most other land slug groups.