First record of the invasive land flatworm Bipalium adventitium (Platyhelminthes, Geoplanidae) in Canada

Gastineau

Gros³

et al. 2022

PeerJ

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Background New records of alien land planarians are regularly reported worldwide, and some correspond to undescribed species of unknown geographic origin. The description of new species of land planarians (Geoplanidae) should classically be based on both external morphology and histology of anatomical structures, especially the copulatory organs, ideally with the addition of molecular data. Methods Here, we describe the morphology and reproductive anatomy of a species previously reported as Diversibipalium “black”, and the morphology of a species previously reported as Diversibipalium “blue”. Based on next generation sequencing, we obtained the complete mitogenome of five species of Bipaliinae, including these two species. Results The new species Humbertium covidum n. sp. (syn: Diversibipalium “black” of Justine et al., 2018) is formally described on the basis of morphology, histology and mitogenome, and is assigned to Humbertium on the basis of its reproductive anatomy. The type-locality is Casier, Italy, and other localities are in the Department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France; some published or unpublished records suggest that this species might also be present in Russia, China, and Japan. The mitogenomic polymorphism of two geographically distinct specimens (Italy vs France) is described; the cox1 gene displayed 2.25% difference. The new species Diversibipalium mayottensis n. sp. (syn: Diversibipalium “blue” of Justine et al., 2018) is formally described on the basis of external morphology and complete mitogenome and is assigned to Diversibipalium on the basis of an absence of information on its reproductive anatomy. The type- and only known locality is the island of Mayotte in the Mozambique Channel off Africa. Phylogenies of bipaliine geoplanids were constructed on the basis of SSU, LSU, mitochondrial proteins and concatenated sequences of cox1, SSU and LSU. In all four phylogenies, D. mayottensis was the sister-group to all the other bipaliines. With the exception of D. multilineatum which could not be circularised, the complete mitogenomes of B. kewense, B. vagum, B. adventitium, H. covidum and D. mayottensis were colinear. The 16S gene in all bipaliine species was problematic because usual tools were unable to locate its exact position. Conclusion Next generation sequencing, which can provide complete mitochondrial genomes as well as traditionally used genes such as SSU, LSU and cox1, is a powerful tool for delineating and describing species of Bipaliinae when the reproductive structure cannot be studied, which is sometimes the case of asexually reproducing invasive species. The unexpected position of the new species D. mayottensis as sister-group to all other Bipaliinae in all phylogenetic analyses suggests that the species could belong to a new genus, yet to be described.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hammerhead flatworms (Platyhelminthes, Geoplanidae, Bipaliinae): mitochondrial genomes and description of two new species from France, Italy, and Mayotte

Gastineau

Gros³

et al. 2022

PeerJ

Self Cite

“…Most terrestrial flatworms occur naturally in the tropics and in the temperate Southern Hemisphere, in a large range of habitat types, including from mesophile to xenophile habitats, from alpine herb fields to sandy semi‐desert and from subantarctic rata forest to tropical rain forest (Winsor et al, 1998). However, some species are found outside their native range in large parts of the world such as Europe (Cannon et al, 1999; Čapka & Čejka, 2021; Carbayo et al, 2016; Jones, 2019; Jones et al, 2020; Jones & Sluys, 2016; Justine et al, 2014, 2020, 2022; Justine, Winsor, et al, 2018; Mori et al, 2022), the Americas (Justine et al, 2015, 2019, 2021), Asia (Chaisiri et al, 2019; Hu et al, 2019) and Polynesia (Justine, Lemarcis, et al, 2018; Justine, Winsor, et al, 2018), and some of them occasionally became invasive (Sluys, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hammerhead worms everywhere? Modelling the invasion of bipaliin flatworms in a changing climate

Fourcade

Winsor

Diversity and Distributions

2022

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Aim: Alien species introduced into new ecosystems occasionally predate upon or outcompete native species. Land planarians (Geoplanidae) are a family of carnivorous Platyhelminthes among which several species are found outside their native range. Specifically, hammerhead flatworms originate from Asia and Madagascar but have now reached many new locations worldwide through the transport of exotic plants.Because they are predators of earthworms and snails, they are considered a potential threat to native ecosystems. In this context, to anticipate their potential impacts and to inform early preventative actions, it is necessary to know where these species could spread to in future, or where they might already be present but undetected. Location: Worldwide. Methods: Here, we used occurrence records from online databases and climatic and soil variables to model the potential distribution of five hammerhead flatworm species (Bipalium adventitium, B. kewense, B. pennsylvanicum, B. vagum and Diversibipalium multilineatum) that are known to occur outside their native range. Results:We demonstrate that precipitation is an important factor determining their distribution, which is in accordance with their known affinity for humidity. We show that some areas have the potential to be invaded by all five species, including regions that are relatively spared so far. This includes the River Plate basin in South America, which already harbours a diverse fauna of native terrestrial flatworms and which appears to also be a potential hotspot for the establishment of alien hammerhead flatworms. According to scenarios of future climate change, two species (B. kewense and B. vagum) that currently have the largest observed global range are predicted to further increase their potential distribution. Main conclusions:The results we report can be used to provide guidance for monitoring the potential sources of introduction of alien hammerhead flatworms in regions that are suitable, but which are not yet colonized.

“…For Guadeloupe, records were obtained from citizen science. We used the same methods as for our previous research on land flatworms Justine et al, 2018a;Justine et al, 2019;Justine et al, 2015;Justine et al, 2014Justine et al, , 2018bJustine et al, , 2020cMazza et al, 2016). Photographs were received from various non-professionals through three channels: email directly sent to Jean-Lou Justine, records received through the smartphone application "INPN espèces" ( https://inpn.mnhn.fr/informations/inpn-especes ), and a survey undertaken by DEAL (Direction de l'Environnement, de l'Aménagement et du Logement) (http://www.guadeloupe.…”

Section: Records and Specimensmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For molecular analysis, a small piece of the body (1-3 mm 3 ) was taken from the lateral edge of ethanol-fixed individuals. Extraction of DNA and PCR were performed as in previous similar works (Justine et al 2019). Briefly, a fragment of 424 bp was amplified with the primers JB3 (=COI-ASmit1) and JB4.5 (=COI-ASmit2) (Bowles et al, 1995;Littlewood et al, 1997), and a fragment of 825 bp was amplified with the primers BarS (Álvarez-Presas et al, 2011) and COIR (Lázaro et al, 2009;Mateos et al, 2013).…”

Section: Barcodingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Presence of the invasive land flatworm Platydemus manokwari (Platyhelminthes, Geoplanidae) in Guadeloupe, Martinique and Saint Martin (French West Indies)

Gey

Vasseur³

et al. 2021

Zootaxa

Self Cite

The land flatworm Platydemus manokwari (Platyhelminthes, Geoplanidae) is recorded from the islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Saint Martin in the Caribbean arc. Photographs and records were obtained mainly from citizen science and ranged from the end of 2018 to February 2021; several specimens were deposited in the collections of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, France. Thirty records were from Guadeloupe, but only one from Martinique and from Saint Martin, respectively. The COI sequences of 3 specimens from Guadeloupe show that they belong to the World haplotype also found in many countries. We also report P. manokwari from Fort Myers, Florida, USA, with molecular characterization, which was also the World haplotype. This is the first published record of P. manokwari for Guadeloupe, Martinique and Saint Martin and the second for islands in the Caribbean, after Puerto Rico.