Integrative taxonomy of land planarians (Platyhelminthes: Geoplanidae) from the Andean‐Patagonian Forests from Argentina and Chile, with the erection of two new genera

Abstract

The Andean-Patagonian Forests, also known as Subantarctic forests, extend over a narrow strip on both sides of the Andes Mountains, in southern South America (Veblen, 2007). These are the southernmost forests in the world and have their origin 45 million years ago on the Gondwana supercontinent. The Andean-Patagonian Forests represent a large biogeographic "green" island, separated from climatically similar areas by extensive ocean barriers and deserts. The connection of these cold-temperate forests with other forest ecosystems in South America was probably broken up by the end of the Tertiary and has remained severed during the entire Quaternary

Current state of knowledge on freshwater planarians (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Dugesiidae) from Chile

“…The correct determination of species in the family Dugesiidae is difficult due to similarities in both the external morphology and reproductive apparatus. Therefore, new studies should integrate the traditional techniques (morphological, anatomical and reproductive system description) with molecular analyses of nuclear and mitochondrial markers, such as ribosomal subunit 18 (18S), ribosomal subunit 28 (28S), cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI), elongation factor 1α (EF), and internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS-1) sequencing (Álvarez-Presas et al 2008(Álvarez-Presas et al , 2015Álvarez-Presas and Riutort 2014;Negrete et al 2020;Lenguas Francavilla et al 2021). To these sequences, additional markers are being developed from next-generation sequencing (NGS), such as DOM5, Tnuc813, and Dugesia nuclear (Dunuc), which have been incorporated into planarian identification pipelines (Araujo et al 2020;Leria et al 2020).…”