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Abstract

The cosmopolitan land planarian Bipalium kewense Moseley, 1878 (Tricladida: Geoplanidae: Bipaliinae) is recorded for first time from Cuba on the basis of specimens from the Gran Parque Natural Topes de Collantes, Sancti Spíritus province. Both external morphology and internal anatomy agree with B. kewense features. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analysis of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) sequences obtained from Cuban individuals form a well-supported clade with other specimens of B. kewense from Europe. This constitutes the first Cuban land planarian identified to species level based on morphological and molecular studies.