Bipaliinae

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 Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Platyhelminthes
Order: Tricladida
Suborder: Continenticola
Superfamily: Geoplanoidea
Family: Geoplanidae
Subfamily: Bipaliinae
Genera[1]

see text

Description

The 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

Species in the subfamily Bipaliinae are grouped in the following genera:[4]

Bipaliin as invasive species

Several 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
  1. 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.
  2. 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.open access
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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. doi:10.1111/ddi.13489. ISSN 1366-9516. open access
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