Vermiviatum covidum (Justine, Gastineau, Gros, Gey, Ruzzier, Charles & Winsor, 2022) Sola, Sluys, Riutort & Kawakatsu, 2023 Justine et al., 2022

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 : 8

Vermiviatum covidum

Vermiviatum covidum ( Figs 15, 16 ) was first reported under the name Diversibipalium sp. “black” in 2018 ( Justine et al. 2018b), then described in 2022 as a member of Humbertium Ogren & Sluys 2001 as H. covidum (Justine et al. 2022a) , then transferred to the new genus Vermiviatum in 2023 ( Solà et al. 2023). Vermiviatum covidum was formally described from specimens collected in Northern Italy and France, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques mentioned above, which has a climate very favorable to terrestrial Platyhelminthes. In a field in Italy, the species appeared to be swarming, but only one outbreak was spotted; the species can therefore be considered rare, but as it is small and black, it is possible that it escapes most inattentive observers. Since our 2022 article, only one other report has been published, in Italy ( Mori et al. 2022a). The species consumes small molluscs, as shown by our study on the DNA of its prey (Justine et al. 2022a), but this information is limited and deserves to be expanded. We described the mitogenome of two individuals of this species, one from Italy and one from France; the mitogenomes showed minor differences, consistent with intraspecific differences (Justine et al. 2022a). With O. nungara , this is the only geoplanid species for which the mitogenome was described in two populations.

Figures

Figures 15–16. Vermiviatum covidum, alive, specimen from Italy. Note the“menacing” attitude of the individual with raised anterior end; this image had high impact in the media. Photo by Pierre Gros, from Justine et al. (2022a).