New Zealand flatworm

The New Zealand flatworm (''Arthurdendyus triangulatus'') is a large land flatworm native to New Zealand. It can vary from 5 mm in length when hatched to approximately in mature adults.

The New Zealand flatworm is considered an invasive species in parts of Europe. This species is included since 2019 in the list of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern (the Union list). This implies that this species cannot be imported, bred, transported, commercialized, or intentionally released into the environment in the whole of the European Union.

Description

The ventral surface of the flatworm is a pale buff colour while the dorsal surface is dark brown. Young flatworms vary in colour from white to pale orange and develop their adult colouration as they grow.

During the day, flatworms can be found resting on the surface of soil underneath objects in close contact with the ground. They may also be found beneath the soil surface hunting for earthworms.

Reproduction involves the production of egg capsules of about 8 mm in length. The capsules are shiny, flexible and cherry red in colour at first and later darken to black after several days. After an unknown incubation period, several pale, tiny flatworms hatch out of the brittle capsule. One egg capsule is produced at a time with the bulge clearly visible in the dorsum of the adult worm.

Locomotion

When at rest, ''A. triangulatus'' rolls itself up and can appear like a very tiny Swiss roll. When it starts to move, it uncurls, at the same time as the circular muscles beneath the epidermal cells at the anterior end contract. The paler head-end extends forward, becoming as thin as the lead in a pencil. During movement it is repeatedly raised a couple of millimetres from the substratum before being lowered again.
As movement continues, circular, diagonal and longitudinal muscles in the rest of the body contract. Friction between the ventral surface and the substratum is reduced by mucus produced by the ciliated epidermal cells. ''A. triangulatus'' can achieve speeds of up to 17 m per hour.

Invasive species

The New Zealand flatworm is an invasive species in Europe, feeding there almost exclusively on earthworms. This degrades soil quality. European earthworm predators are reluctant to eat it although cases of frogs and beetle larvae consuming flatworms have been recorded. It has been seen in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, The Republic of Ireland and the Faroe Islands. It might have arrived in the early 1960s, being first recorded in Belfast in 1963. The New Zealand flatworm is easily transported accidentally in plant pots in adult or egg form. They tend to be common in garden centres and may have arrived in the UK with exotic plants.

It has been suggested that they might thrive in parts of western Norway, southern Sweden, Denmark, Germany and northern parts of Poland, if they invade these regions.

Similar invasions of other terrestrial planarians are occurring in many other parts of the world. For example, planarians of the genus ''Bipalium'' are widely distributed in North America, and planarians of the genus ''Platydemus'' on many islands in the Pacific.Sugiura, S. 2010. Prey preference and gregarious attacks by the invasive flatworm Platydemus manokwari. Biological Invasions 12:1499-1507. ''Platydemus manokwari'' has recently (2013) been found in Europe.

See also

*Invasive species of New Zealand origin

References

External links

Information about the flatworm
at the Central Science Laboratory (CSL), United Kingdom

Factsheet
at the European Network on Invasive Alien Species

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2698648

Geoplanidae
Worms of New Zealand
Taxa named by Arthur Dendy