Deroceras Praecox - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

When Wiktor (1966) described D. praecox he distinguished two forms on the basis of their genitalia. Later Wiktor (1973) realised that one of the forms of D. praecox that he had distinguished was synonymous with Deroceras rodnae, described slightly earlier by Grossu & Lupu (1965). But the other form with a spiral end to its penis occupied a distinct range in the Sudeten mountains and neighboring areas; this is what is called D. praecox nowadays. It remains debatable whether D. praecox might be better viewed as a subspecies of D. rodnae (Hutchinson & Reise, 2009). Note that the distinct differences in mating behaviour between D. praecox and D. rodnae that Reise (1995) reported turn out to refer to differences between D. praecox and a more distant species, Deroceras juranum (Hutchinson & Reise, 2009).