A lectotype of Arion hortensis Férussac, 1819 and a neotype of A. distinctus Mabille, 1868 are selected in order to assure nomenclatural stability. Descriptions of preserved specimens of these species from large parts of central and western Europe are provided, as well as of living animals from The Netherlands and Belgium. The main characters used by Davies (1977, 1979) to separate the British representatives of this complex were found suitable in the rest of Europe as well, in contrast to some characters given by De Wilde (1983). Arion owenii Davies, 1979 was not present in the material studied. Provisional UTM-distribution maps (50 km grid) of A. hortensis and A. distinctus in Europe (except the British Isles and Belgium) are provided, besides 10 km grid maps for The Netherlands, based on material present in Dutch private and museum collections. Some records in the recent literature are discussed.

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Zoologische Mededelingen

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Naturalis journals & series

de Winter, A. J. (1984). The Arion Hortensis complex (Pulmonata: Arionidae): designation of types, descriptions, and destributional patterns, with special reference to the Netherlands. Zoologische Mededelingen, 59(1), 1–17.