The scientific name Rathouisiidae is based on the name of the type genus, Rathouisia which in turn was named in honor of the French JesuitPèreCharles Rathouis (1834–1890), who made scientific drawings for Pierre Marie Heude.[2]
The predatory carnivorous slugs in the genus Atopos are found in peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, New Guinea, northeast Australia and, recently, Singapore.
Feeding habits
Rathouisiidae are carnivorous and feed on other gastropods, but also on fungi and plants.[7]
Bornean Atopos specialising in Opisthostoma are known to tailor their approach to the size of the prey. They hold small snails with the shells aperture-upward with the front of its foot and eat their way down. Larger ones scrape away the shell to allow access through the spire. This behaviour is thought to drive the evolution of shell ornamentation in Opisthostoma.[8]
References
^Heude P. M. (1885). Mémoires concernant l'histoire naturelle de l'empire chinois par des pères de la Compagnie de Jésus. Notes sur les Mollusques terrestres de la vallée du Fleuve Bleu. Mision Catholique, Chang-Hai. 3: 89–132, plates 22-32. page 99.
^Barker G. M. (2001) Gastropods on Land: Phylogeny, Diversity and Adaptive Morphology. 1–146. In: Barker G. M. (ed.) (2001) The biology of terrestrial molluscs. CABI Publishing, Oxon, UK, cited pages: 69. ISBN0-85199-318-4.
^Tan S. K. & Chan S-Y. (2009). "New records of predatory slugs from Singapore with notes on their feeding behaviour". Nature in Singapore2: 1–7. PDF.
