An "alien" species of a worm was recently discovered in Europe and Africa in which scientists have classified as potentially invasive.
Science Alert reported that these worms are the predatory hammerhead flatworms that include one that is named after COVID-19 and another that is spectacularly an iridescent green-blue species.
Professor Jean-Lou Justine from ISYEB (Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, France) led the international team of researchers who reported the description of the two new species of the worm. They noted that this is the first study of these newly discovered species.
Two New Species of Hammerhead Flatworm Found in Europe and Italy
The inadvertent spread of invasive plant and animal species is one of the consequences of industrialization. For instance, the hammerhead flatworms are spread via plant trade in which new species of the worm are now widespread.
In the paper, titled "Hammerhead Flatworms (Platyhelminthes, Geoplanidae, Bipaliinae): Mitochondrial Genomes and Description of Two New Species From France, Italy, and Mayotte" published in the Open Access journal PeerJ, researchers described the two new species of hammerhead flatworms in which one of them was named to pay homage to the victims of COVID-19 pandemic.
They pointed out that the first new hammerhead flatworm species in the paper is named Humbertium covidum because the work was finished during lockdowns, according to EurekAlert! Jean-Lou Justine said that since most of them were at home and their laboratories are closed, their field expeditions were also not possible. But still, he managed to convince his colleagues to continue with the work.
It is found in two gardens in Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France, and Veneto, Italy. The H. covidum is only about 30mm long and looks metallic black, which is unusually seen in this species. They consume small snails and originally came from Asia.
The second new species is named Diversibipalium mayottensis, which is only found on the French island of Mayotte in the Mozambique Channel. It is of the same size as H. covidum but has a spectacular green-blue iridescence over its brow ground color. It originally came from Madagascar where it would have been inadvertently brought to Mayotte in the past.
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Invasive Hammerhead Flatworms Threaten Soil biodiversity and Ecology
Hammerhead flatworms are one of the worm species that are considered predators of the soil, according to SciTech Daily. Other worms in this category are earthworms, slugs, and snails. All of them are a threat to soil biodiversity as well as the ecology of the environment where they are introduced.
The new paper describes the new species of hammerhead flatworms that are potentially invasive to the environment. But researchers noted that a number of them could be described by scientists even those who are specimens not from their land of origin but on the countries they have already invaded.
For instance, the US has reported the invasion of Bipalium pennsylvanicum and Bipalium adventitium both of which originate in Asia but so far no cases were reported in an Asian country of their invasion in any plant species. The study also highlights how alien species could potentially become invasive and become one of the major threats to biodiversity.
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