Obama nungara Carbayo, Álvarez-Presas, Jones, & Riutort, 2016 is a land planarian (Platyhelminthes: Geoplanidae) native to southern South America, which has recently dispersed towards several countries of the European continent, thus becoming a threat to the native soil fauna. Its dispersion would be favoured by its wide food habit and its tendency to live linked to humans, being the plant trade its most plausible vector of dispersion. Here, we explored the potential distribution of O. nungara on a global scale by using the MaxEnt software. We used 144 records (encompassing 10 countries) from sampling campaigns, citizen science, recent literature, and material deposited in scientific collections. Our results showed that southern South America has favourable climatic conditions for O. nungara. MaxEnt also allowed predicting expansions to countries of Europe where this planarian is already established and to others not yet colonized, as well as to Asia (southern coast of the Caspian Sea, Taiwan, and southeast of mainland China) and Oceania (south-east of Australia and New Zealand). The potential distribution of O. nungara was mainly outlined by climatic factors related to temperature (annual mean temperature, mean temperature of the coldest quarter, and annual temperature range). Thus, under a global warming scenario, a significant expansion of O. nungara relative to the current prediction is expected. This information may be useful to design strategies to prevent new introductions, since the dissemination of this planarian seems to be strongly man-linked.

We report for the first time the occurrence of Obama marmorata in the Iberian Peninsula as an introduced species from the Neotropical Region. The species is also reported for the first time in Argentina. The identification was made on the basis of morphological evidence. The divergence levels of a fragment of the mitochondrial cytochromec oxidaseI gene from Argentinean and Iberian samples were studied. The morphology of samples from the two regions was the same and matched the original description of the species. A DNA barcoding matrix was constructed using new sequences from O. marmorata and sequences of related species taken from GenBank. Among the Geoplanidae, interspecific divergence ranged between 3.3 and 14.4%, while intraspecific divergence percentages were 0–1.2%, signalling the presence of a DNA barcoding gap. All O. marmorata sequences, irrespective of their geographic origin, form a well supported clade with an intraspecific divergence of 0–0.9 (average = 0.4%). These results indicate the utility of DNA barcoding to discover allochthonous species in this group of organisms.

Among other factors, globalization has promoted the spread of alien organisms, posing a great risk to Earth's biodiversity. Land planarians of the family Geoplanidae especially benefit from human-mediated transport. Many species become established in new areas, where they represent threats to the native soil fauna. Obama nungara is a species described from Brazil, but with many well-established populations in Europe. In this study, specimens from Argentina, Brazil, Portugal and Spain were morphologically and molecularly studied to establish the potential origin of the invasive events within the Iberian Peninsula. Analyses of the mitochondrial lineages (haplotype networks) of these populations revealed previously unknown relationships and biogeographical patterns that suggest an Argentine origin for the Iberian populations.