Diversibipalium multilineatum (Makino & Shirasawa, 1983) Kubota & Kawakatsu, 2010 Kubota and Kawakatsu, 2010

Justine, Jean-Lou, Gastineau, Romain & Winsor, Leigh, 2024, Land flatworms (Tricladida: Geoplanidae) in France and French overseas territories: ten years of research, Zoologia (e 24004) 41, pp. 1-25 : 7

Diversibipalium multilineatum

Diversibipalium multilineatum ( Figs 11–13 ) is a species that closely resembles B. kewense in size, general appearance, and distribution. The species is, however, easily distinguished from the other by its coloring pattern on a good photograph, particularly the appearance of the head ( Justine et al. 2018b). This species is slightly less commonly found than B. kewense ( Fig. 13 ). In Europe, it has been reported in various countries, including the Netherlands ( de Waart 2022), Switzerland ( Justine et al. 2018b), Croatia and Slovenia ( Mori et al. 2023), and Italy ( Dorigo et al. 2020, Mazza et al. 2016, Novarini and Lebech Nässling Iversen 2020). Recent reports on iNaturalist seem to show that it is found increasingly often in the United States (in addition to B. kewense , the presence of which has been known for a long time). In contrast to the cosmopolitan species B. kewense , there are no mentions of the species in any of the overseas French territories. We have described the mitogenome of this species, but it is the only one for which we have not been able to circularize the mitogenome (Justine et al. 2022a).

For the two species B. kewense and D. multilineatum , our modelling study shows that they could invade much of Europe, including the North, under the different hypotheses of global warming ( Fourcade et al. 2022b). The distribution models predicted suitable habitats for five species of potentially invasive bipaliine in the same region of South America, corresponding to the River Plate basin (covering Uruguay, north-eastern Argentina, south-eastern Paraguay and southern Brazil) and partly expanding through parts of the Atlantic Forest. These regions are well known to host a great diversity of land planarians ( Álvarez-Presas et al. 2011, Carbayo et al. 2002, Sluys 1999), and an invasion by bipaliines could be a problem for the local biodiversity of Geoplaninae due to competition and predation.

Figures

Figure 13. Map of occurrence of Diversibipalium multilineatum in mainland France including Corsica. Based on 42 observations in the Openobs database.

Figures 11–12. Diversibipalium multilineatum: (11) Alive, head. (12) Ventral headplate morphology. Note that the animal seems “menacing”; this photograph had success in the media. Photo by Pierre Gros, from Justine et al. (2018b).