Obama nungara Carbayo, Álvarez-Presas, Jones, & Riutort, 2016 is a land planarian (Platyhelminthes: Geoplanidae) native to southern South America, which has recently dispersed towards several countries of the European continent, thus becoming a threat to the native soil fauna. Its dispersion would be favoured by its wide food habit and its tendency to live linked to humans, being the plant trade its most plausible vector of dispersion. Here, we explored the potential distribution of O. nungara on a global scale by using the MaxEnt software. We used 144 records (encompassing 10 countries) from sampling campaigns, citizen science, recent literature, and material deposited in scientific collections. Our results showed that southern South America has favourable climatic conditions for O. nungara. MaxEnt also allowed predicting expansions to countries of Europe where this planarian is already established and to others not yet colonized, as well as to Asia (southern coast of the Caspian Sea, Taiwan, and southeast of mainland China) and Oceania (south-east of Australia and New Zealand). The potential distribution of O. nungara was mainly outlined by climatic factors related to temperature (annual mean temperature, mean temperature of the coldest quarter, and annual temperature range). Thus, under a global warming scenario, a significant expansion of O. nungara relative to the current prediction is expected. This information may be useful to design strategies to prevent new introductions, since the dissemination of this planarian seems to be strongly man-linked.

We report for the first time the occurrence of Obama marmorata in the Iberian Peninsula as an introduced species from the Neotropical Region. The species is also reported for the first time in Argentina. The identification was made on the basis of morphological evidence. The divergence levels of a fragment of the mitochondrial cytochromec oxidaseI gene from Argentinean and Iberian samples were studied. The morphology of samples from the two regions was the same and matched the original description of the species. A DNA barcoding matrix was constructed using new sequences from O. marmorata and sequences of related species taken from GenBank. Among the Geoplanidae, interspecific divergence ranged between 3.3 and 14.4%, while intraspecific divergence percentages were 0–1.2%, signalling the presence of a DNA barcoding gap. All O. marmorata sequences, irrespective of their geographic origin, form a well supported clade with an intraspecific divergence of 0–0.9 (average = 0.4%). These results indicate the utility of DNA barcoding to discover allochthonous species in this group of organisms.

Among other factors, globalization has promoted the spread of alien organisms, posing a great risk to Earth's biodiversity. Land planarians of the family Geoplanidae especially benefit from human-mediated transport. Many species become established in new areas, where they represent threats to the native soil fauna. Obama nungara is a species described from Brazil, but with many well-established populations in Europe. In this study, specimens from Argentina, Brazil, Portugal and Spain were morphologically and molecularly studied to establish the potential origin of the invasive events within the Iberian Peninsula. Analyses of the mitochondrial lineages (haplotype networks) of these populations revealed previously unknown relationships and biogeographical patterns that suggest an Argentine origin for the Iberian populations.

Land planarians are an interesting group of free-living flatworms that can be useful as bioindicators because of their high sensitivity to environmental changes and low dispersal capacity. In this study, we describe and compare assemblages of land planarians from areas with different conservation degrees of the Interior Atlantic Forest (Misiones, Argentina), and assess factors that could be related to their abundance and richness. Eight sites were tracked in search of land planarians in Reserva de Vida Silvestre Urugua-í (RVSU) and Campo Anexo Manuel Belgrano (CAMB). Diurnal and nocturnal surveys were performed in each site along nine sampling campaigns. We collected 237 individuals belonging to 18 species of the subfamily Geoplaninae. All sites were dominated by Geoplana sp. 1 and Pasipha hauseri. The richness estimators showed that there would be more species in RVSU than in CAMB. The abundance and richness of land planarians was high during the night and after rainfalls, suggesting an increased activity of flatworms under such conditions. The abundance and richness of land planarians were also related to the conservation condition of the sites. Disturbed sites showed less abundance and richness, and were segregated from non-disturbed ones by nmMDS analysis. Beta diversity between sites was higher than expected, indicating that the species turnover between sites contributed more to the total richness (gamma diversity) than the alpha diversity.

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Here, we describe two new species of land planarians of the genera Pasipha and Imbira from the Atlantic Forest of Argentina: Pasipha quirogai sp. nov. and Imbira negrita sp. nov. Their external features and internal anatomy distinguish them from their congeners. Pasipha quirogai sp. nov. is about 40mm long, characterized by brown beige dorsal pigmentation with a golden yellow median band and thin graphite black para-median stripes, cylindrical pharynx, extrabulbar prostatic vesicle with paired proximal portion, male atrium with small folds in its proximal part, and female canal opening into the dorso-caudal wall of the female atrium. Imbira negrita sp. nov. is about 110mm long, with jet black dorsal pigmentation, pharynx collar-type, short female canal opening in the postero-dorsal portion of the female atrium, and epithelial lining of female atrium with stratified appearance. We also provide exhaustive descriptions of Geoplana quagga, Obama ladislavii, and Paraba multicolor, all recorded for the first time in Argentina, by analysing anatomical features of taxonomic relevance. In addition, we improve the description of G. quagga, mainly regarding the musculature, secretory cells, and the copulatory apparatus.

Girardia Ball, 1974 is the most diverse and widely distributed genus of the family Dugesiidae (Platyhelminthes: Continenticola) in the Neotropical region. Seven out of the 52 species of the genus are known for Argentina. The Somuncurá Plateau is a region in northern Patagonia with several endemic flora and fauna, but little is known about the free-living Platyhelminthes. We describe two new species of Girardia partially inhabiting in sympatry in the Somuncurá Plateau: Girardia somuncura sp. nov. and Girardia tomasi sp. nov. The identification criteria that we followed was an integrative taxonomic approach based on morphological and molecular data. Thus, we used anatomical features focused on the reproductive system, together with a phylogenetic analysis, using a mitochondrial (COI barcode region) genetic marker. This study is the first phylogenetic analysis of the genus Girardia in which we include the southernmost representatives of America here described, thus making it possible to incorporate them in global phylogenies.