Inferring Multiple Corsican Limax (Pulmonata: Limacidae) Radiations: A Combined Approach Using Morphology and Molecules

Slugs of the genus Limax (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora) show a highly complicated genital system and reproductive behaviour probably triggering radiation and speciation. Pre-studies have revealed two so far largely undescribed species groups of Limax in Corsica. In order to clear up the phylogeny and evolutionary history of these radiations, we used a combination of molecular techniques and morphological characters. The two independent species groups of Corsican Limax species are monophyletic, and consist of six to ten species each, most of them new to science. The first species group, the endemic Wolterstorffi-group, can be differentiated by COI-Sequences, whereas COI-sequences fail to discriminate species of the Corsicus-group, which also has representatives in the Apennine Peninsula. This pattern suggests a much younger radiation of the Corsicus-group. Two hitherto unrecognized species on the adjacent islands of Elba and Capraia are described in an appendix.