Mariaella dussumieri is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of air-breathing land slug

Slug

Slug is a common name that is normally applied to any gastropod mollusc that lacks a shell, has a very reduced shell, or has a small internal shell...

, a terrestrial

Terrestrial animal

Terrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land , as compared with aquatic animals, which live predominantly or entirely in the water , or amphibians, which rely on a combination of aquatic and terrestrial habitats...

 pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Ariophantidae

Ariophantidae

Ariophantidae is a taxonomic family of air-breathing land snails and semi-slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Helicarionoidea .- Distribution :...

.

Mariaella dussumieri is the type species of the genus Mariaella.

Its specific name is in honor of French merchant Jean-Jacques Dussumier

Jean-Jacques Dussumier

Jean-Jacques Dussumier was a French voyager and merchant from Bordeaux. He is known as a collector of zoological species from South Eastern Asia and regions around the Indian Ocean between 1816 and 1840. These collections were later studied and classified by French zoologists such as Georges...

.

Distribution

This species lives in India. It is endemic to Karnataka

Karnataka

Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...

.

The Western Ghats

Western Ghats

The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...

 as far north as the Kadur district of Mysore and perhaps to Mahableshwar. Hill-tracts of Ceylon.

The type locality was Mahé, India, a small town between Calicut and Cannanore

Kannur

Kannur , also known as Cannanore, is a city in Kannur district in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of the District of Kannur and 518km north of state capital Trivandrum. During British rule in India, Kannur was known by its old name Cannanore, which is still in...

 on the Malabar coast

Malabar Coast

The Malabar Coast is a long and narrow coastline on the south-western shore line of the mainland Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing mountain...

.

This species has not yet become established in the USA, but it is considered to represent a potentially serious threat as a pest, an invasive species

Invasive species

"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....

 which could negatively effect agriculture, natural ecosystems, human health or commerce. Therefore it has been suggested that this species be given top national quarantine

Quarantine

Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....

 significance in the USA.

Shell description

The internal shell

Gastropod shell

The gastropod shell is a shell which is part of the body of a gastropod or snail, one kind of mollusc. The gastropod shell is an external skeleton or exoskeleton, which serves not only for muscle attachment, but also for protection from predators and from mechanical damage...

 in general thin, slightly convex, ovate and white. The apex

Apex (mollusc)

Apex is an anatomical term for the tip of the mollusc shell of a gastropod, scaphopod, or cephalopod mollusc.-Gastropods:The word "apex" is most often used to mean the tip of the spire of the shell of a gastropod...

 of the shell is forming a small point at the right side and near the posterior end. The shell is not involute.

Anatomy

The color of the animal is yellowish brown or olivaceous, sometimes almost black, and generally mottled with dark blotches.

The mantle

Mantle (mollusc)

The mantle is a significant part of the anatomy of molluscs: it is the dorsal body wall which covers the visceral mass and usually protrudes in the form of flaps well beyond the visceral mass itself.In many, but by no means all, species of molluscs, the epidermis of the mantle secretes...

 has two narrow raised ridges on the shell-lobes, one running from the little shell-aperture round the left margin of the shell, the other towards the respiratory orifice on the right margin.

The size appears to vary up to about 8 inches (203.2 mm) in length.

Teeth of radula

Radula

The radula is an anatomical structure that is used by molluscs for feeding, sometimes compared rather inaccurately to a tongue. It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon, which is typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food enters the esophagus...

in one specimen were 88.3.20.1.20.3.88 (111.1.111), in another 95.2.18.1.18.2.95 (115.1.115).