Abstract
During a period of intense rainfall (May 2019), several specimens of land flatworms were collected from a private garden in Palazzolo dello Stella (Friuli Venezia Giulia, Udine, Italy: 45°47’40.5”N, 13°05’17.2”E). Planarians were found both in a cultivated part of the garden and in a part covered with gravel and with trees and shrubs (Pyracantha sp., Olea europaea, Pyrus communis). The animals were observed under branches, stones, tufa blocks, and pots close to a small artificial pond, but also in other parts of the garden, as well as inside buildings.
References
Alford, D.V., Lole, M.J. & Emmett, B.J. (1996) Alien terrestrial planarians in England and Wales, and implications for horticultural trade. In: AAVV, Brighton crop protection conference—Pests & Diseases. Vol. 3. British Crop Protection Council, Alton, Hampshire, pp. 1083–1088.
Boag, B., Palmer, L.F., Neilson, R. & Chambers, S.J. (1994) Distribution and prevalence of the predatory planarian Artioposthia triangulata (Dendy) (Tricladida: Terricola) in Scotland. Annals of Applied Biology, 124, 165–171.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7348.1994.tb04124.x
Crooks, J.A. (2005) Lag times and exotic species: The ecology and management of biological invasions in slow-motion1. Ecoscience, 12 (3), 316–329.
https://doi.org/10.2980/i1195-6860-12-3-316.1
Fraser, P.M. & Boag, B. (1998) The distribution of lumbricid earthworm communities in relation to flatworms: a comparison between New Zealand and Europe. Pedobiologia, 42, 542–553.
Gremigni, V. (2003) Turbellaria. In: Stoch, F. (Ed.), Checklist of the Species of the Italian Fauna. Version 2.0. Online. Available from: http://www.faunaitalia.it/checklist/ (accessed 27 June 2019)
Hänfling, B., Edwards, F. & Gherardi, F. (2011) Invasive alien Crustacea: dispersal, establishment, impact and control. BioControl, 56 (4), 573–595.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-011-9380-8
Justine, J-L., Winsor, L., Gey, D., Gros, P. & Thévenot, J. (2014) The invasive New Guinea flatworm Platydemus manokwari in France, the first record for Europe: time for action is now. PeerJ, 2, e297.
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.297
Mazza, G., Menchetti, M., Sluys, R., Solà, E., Riutort, M., Tricarico, E., Justine, J-L., Cavigioli, L. & Mori, E. (2016) First report of the land planarian Diversibipalium multilineatum (Makino & Shirasawa, 1983) (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Continenticola) in Europe. Zootaxa, 4067 (5), 577–580.
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4067.5.4
Moore, J.P., Dynes, C. & Murchie, A.K. (1998) Status and public perception of the “New Zealand flatworm”, Artioposthia triangulata (Dendy), in Northern Ireland. Pedobiologia, 42, 563–571
Sluys, R. (2016) Invasion of the flatworms. American Scientist, 104 (5), 288–295.
https://doi.org/10.1511/2016.122.288