Bipaliinae is a subfamily of land planarians found mainly in Madagascar, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, although some species have been introduced worldwide.[2][3]
| Bipaliinae | |
|---|---|
| |
| Bipalium pennsylvanicum | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Platyhelminthes |
| Order: | Tricladida |
| Suborder: | Continenticola |
| Superfamily: | Geoplanoidea |
| Family: | Geoplanidae |
| Subfamily: | Bipaliinae |
| Genera[1] | |
|
see text | |
Description
editThe subfamily Bipaliinae is characterized by having a semilunar head that gives them the common name "hammerhead worms". The head has peripheral sensory pits on the ventral side and small peripheral eyes on the dorsal side.[2][4]
Genera
editSpecies in the subfamily Bipaliinae are grouped in the following genera:[4]
- Bipalium Stimpson, 1857
- Humbertium Ogren & Sluys, 2001
- Novibipalium Kawakatsu et al., 1998
- Umbotectum Solà & Sluys, 2023[5]
- Vermiviatum Solà & Sluys, 2023[5]
- Diversibipalium Kawakatsu et al., 2002
Bipaliin as invasive species
editSeveral hammerhead flatworms have become invasive, the most famous being Bipalium kewense, now in many countries in all continents except the Antarctica. A 2022 study used occurrence records from online databases, including iNaturalist, and climatic and soil variable to model the potential distribution of five species of hammerhead flatworms, namely B. kewense, B. adventitium, B. pennsylvaanicum, B. vagum, and Diversibipalium multilineatum. It was found that the five species could invade Southeast Asia, New Zealand, Eastern Australian, a part of South America, eastern USA, western Europe and central Africa.[6]
References
edit- ^ Sluys, R.; Kawakatsu, M.; Riutort, M.; Baguñà, J. (2009). "A new higher classification of planarian flatworms (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida)". Journal of Natural History. 43 (29–30): 1763–1777. doi:10.1080/00222930902741669.
- ^ a b Ogren, R. E.; Kawakatsu, M. (1987). "Index to the species of the genus Bipalium (Turbellaria, Tricladida, Terricola)". The Bulletin of Fuji Women's College. Series 2. 25 (2): 79–119.
- ^ Álvarez-Presas, M.; Mateos, E.; Tudó, À.; Jones, H.; Riutort, M. (2014). "Diversity of introduced terrestrial flatworms in the Iberian Peninsula: A cautionary tale". PeerJ. 2: e430. doi:10.7717/peerj.430. PMC 4060057. PMID 24949245.
- ^ a b Winsor, L.; Johns, P. M.; Barker, G. M. (2004). Terrestrial planarians (Platyhelminthes: Turbellaria: Tricladida: Continenticola) predaceous on terrestrial gastropods. In: Barker, G. (ed.), Natural Enemies of Terrestrial Molluscs, pp. 227-278.
- ^ a b Solà, E., Sluys, R., Riutort, M., Kawakatsu, M. (18 August 2023). "Molecular phylogenetics facilitates the first historical biogeographic analysis of the hammerhead worms (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida: Bipaliinae), with the description of twelve new species and two new genera". Zootaxa. 5335 (1): 1–77. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5335.1.1. ISSN 1175-5334.
- ^ Fourcade, Yoan; Winsor, Leigh; Justine, Jean‐Lou (2022-02-22). "Hammerhead worms everywhere? Modelling the invasion of bipaliin flatworms in a changing climate". Diversity and Distributions. 28 (4): 844–858. doi:10.1111/ddi.13489. ISSN 1366-9516.
