Diversibipalium is a genus of land planarians of the subfamily Bipaliinae (hammerhead flatworms). It was erected to include species lacking sufficient morphological information to allow them to be classified in the appropriate genus.[1][2]

Diversibipalium
Diversibipalium multilineatum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Platyhelminthes
Order: Tricladida
Family: Geoplanidae
Subfamily: Bipaliinae
Genus: Diversibipalium
Kawakatsu, Ogren, Froehlich & Sasaki, 2002
Type species
No type species

Taxonomy

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During the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, many land planarian species were described based solely on external characters. Currently, the genera of land planarians are highly based on their internal anatomy, especially the anatomy of the copulatory apparatus. As a result, species with old descriptions that were never redescribed, so that their internal anatomy remains unknown, cannot be assigned to the correct genus. Thus, the genus Diversibipalium was created to temporarily accommodate species of the subfamily Bipaliinae whose anatomy of the copulatory apparatus is still unknown.[1]

Species

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Diversibipalium mayottensis

Diversibipalium multilineatum (Makino & Shirasawa, 1983) is a large-size invasive species, originally from Japan, now found in several European countries.[2] It is superficially similar to Bipalium kewense, which is even more widespread in the world, but can be easily distinguished by the marking on its head (D. multilineatum has an 'exclamation point' on the head).

Diversibipalium mayottensis Justine, Gastineau, Gros, Gey, Ruzzier, Charles & Winsor, 2022 is a small-size species, found only in the French island of Mayotte, in the Indian Ocean.[3] According to a comparative study of the mitochondrial genomes and other genes, D. mayottensis is the sister-group to all other bipaliines.[3]

The genus Diversibipalium currently contains the following species:

References

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  1. ^ a b Kawakatsu, M.; Ogren, R. E.; Froehlich, E. M.; Sasaki, G.-Y. (2002). "Additions and corrections of the previous land planarian indices of the world (Turbellaria, Seriata, Tricladida, Terricola) – 10". The Bulletin of Fuji Women's University. Series II. 40: 162–177. 
  2. ^ a b Justine, Jean-Lou; Winsor, Leigh; Gey, Delphine; Gros, Pierre; Thévenot, Jessica (2018). "Giant worms chez moi! Hammerhead flatworms (Platyhelminthes, Geoplanidae, Bipalium spp., Diversibipalium spp.) in metropolitan France and overseas French territories". PeerJ. 6: e4672. doi:10.7717/peerj.4672. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 5969052. PMID 29844951.  
  3. ^ a b Justine, Jean-Lou; Gastineau, Romain; Gros, Pierre; Gey, Delphine; Ruzzier, Enrico; Charles, Laurent; Winsor, Leigh (2022-02-01). "Hammerhead flatworms (Platyhelminthes, Geoplanidae, Bipaliinae): mitochondrial genomes and description of two new species from France, Italy, and Mayotte". PeerJ. 10: e12725. doi:10.7717/peerj.12725. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 8815365. PMID 35178290.