Humbertium covidum, an invasive hammerhead worm present in Italy. Credit score: Pierre Gros
Two new species of probably invasive hammerhead flatworms from Europe (France and Italy) and Africa (Mayotte)
“Alien” species of predatory hammerhead worms – together with a spectacularly iridescent green-blue specimen – recognized in Europe and Africa.
One of many penalties of globalization is the inadvertent unfold of invasive plant and animal species. Land flatworms have invaded the complete world, principally by way of the plant commerce. Greater than ten species are actually widespread, reminiscent of Obama nungara (initially from Argentina), Platydemus manokwari (from New Guinea) and Bipalium kewense (from Southeast Asia).
Diversibipalium mayottensis, an invasive species of hammerhead worm present in Mayotte. Credit score: Laurent Charles
A world crew led by Professor Jean-Lou Justine from ISYEB (Muséum Nationwide d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France) studies the outline of two new species of hammerhead flatworms. That is the primary research of those species, reported in an article printed within the Open Entry journal PeerJ.
Land flatworms are predators of soil animals, together with earthworms, slugs, and snails. They're a risk to soil biodiversity and ecology when they're launched in a brand new surroundings. Hammerhead flatworms are specialised members of this household exhibiting a broadened head. A lot of species of hammerhead flatworms have been described by scientists, not from specimens from their land of origin, however from specimens obtained from the international locations already invaded. That is the case, as an illustration, for the 2 species discovered within the USA, Bipalium pennsylvanicum and Bipalium adventitium, which originate from Asia however weren't reported from any Asian nation. The 2 new species described on this new paper comply with an identical sample.
The analysis highlights the issue of alien species, and their potential to develop into invasive. They're one of many main threats to biodiversity, with appreciable value impacts on the financial system. A full vary of strategies have been used, together with citizen science, subject expeditions, macro pictures, classical morphology, and new era sequencing in molecular biology.
Hammerhead flatworms embody some “giants” amongst land flatworms, with one species reaching one meter in size. Nevertheless, the brand new species described listed below are small, probably explaining why they escaped the eye of researchers earlier than.
The primary new species was named Humbertium covidum in reference to the work being accomplished throughout lockdowns attributable to the worldwide pandemic and “as homage to the victims of COVID-19,” write the authors. It was present in two gardens within the Pyrénées-Atlantiques (France) and likewise in Veneto (Italy). It's small (30 mm) and appears uniformly metallic black, an uncommon shade amongst hammerhead flatworms. Via genetic analyses of its intestinal contents, the researchers discovered that these flatworms eat small snails. The species’ origin might be Asia, and it's probably invasive.
The second new species was named Diversibipalium mayottensis and was solely present in Mayotte (a French island within the Mozambique Channel, Indian Ocean). The species is small (30 mm) and displays a spectacular green-blue iridescence over brown floor shade. Genetic analyses, together with mitogenomes, confirmed that this species was the sister-group of all different hammerhead flatworms (subfamily Bipaliinae) and is thus of particular curiosity for understanding the evolution of those worms. Its origin may very well be Madagascar, from the place it might have been inadvertently delivered to Mayotte by individuals at a while prior to now.
Jean-Lou Justine mentioned “As a result of pandemic, throughout the lockdowns most of us have been house, with our laboratory closed. No subject expeditions have been doable. I satisfied my colleagues to assemble all the knowledge we had about these flatworms, do the pc analyses, and at last write this very lengthy paper. We determined to call one of many species “covidum,” paying homage to the victims of the pandemic.”
Along with classical anatomical and morphological descriptions, the researchers used the characters of full mitogenomes to characterize the brand new species. Mitochondrial genomes (or mitogenomes) with about 15,000 base pairs, present a major quantity of knowledge, particularly particulars about their genes. The researchers, who had beforehand studied the mitogenomes in 4 species of land flatworms, describe right here the entire mitogenomes of 5 species of hammerhead flatworms. Full mitogenomes and different sequences typically used for phylogeny, reminiscent of these of Small and Giant Subunit Ribosomal RNA (SSU and LSU), allowed the analysis crew to suggest the primary molecular research of relationships throughout the hammerhead flatworms (subfamily Bipaliinae).
Reference: “Hammerhead flatworms (Platyhelminthes, Geoplanidae, Bipaliinae): mitochondrial genomes and outline of two new species from France, Italy, and Mayotte” by Jean-Lou Justine, Romain Gastineau, Pierre Gros, Delphine Gey, Enrico Ruzzier, Laurent Charles and Leigh Winsor, 1 February 2022, Peerj.
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.12725
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