Australopacifica

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Australopacifica
Australopacifica laingii.jpg
Australopacifica laingii
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Platyhelminthes
Order: Tricladida
Family: Geoplanidae
Tribe: Caenoplanini
Genus: Australopacifica
Ogren & Kawakatsu, 1991

Australopacifica is a genus of land planarians of the tribe Caenoplanini. It was erected to include species lacking sufficient morphological information to allow them to be classified in the appropriate genus. [1]

Contents

Australopacifica atrata (Steel, 1897), a species originally described from New South Wales, Australia has invaded the United Kingdom since 2015. [2] Its complete mitogenome was described in 2022, and found to be similar to that of other Rhynchodeminae. [3]

Taxonomy

Many species of land planarians described during the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century were classified based solely on external characteristics. Currently, the land planarian genera are highly based on internal anatomy, especially the anatomy of the copulatory apparatus. As a result, species with old descriptions that were never redescribed, so that their internal anatomy remains unknown, cannot be assigned to the correct genus. Thus, the genus Australopacifica was erected to temporarily accommodate species of the tribe Caenoplanini, whose anatomy of the copulatory apparatus is still unknown. [1]

Species

The genus Australopacifica currently contains the following species:

References

  1. 1 2 Ogren, R. E.; Kawakatsu, M. (1991). "Index to the species of the family Geoplanidae (Turbellaria, Tricladida, Terricola) Part II: Caenoplaninae and Pelmatoplaninae". Bulletin of Fujis Women's College. 29: 35–58. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  2. 1 2 Jones, Hugh D. (2019-05-15). "Another alien terrestrial planarian in the United Kingdom: Australopacifica atrata (Steel, 1897) (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida: Continenticola)". Zootaxa. 4604 (3): 575. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4604.3.12. ISSN   1175-5334. PMID   31717186. S2CID   181517178.
  3. ↑ Gastineau, Romain; Winsor, Leigh; Justine, Jean-Lou (2022-07-05). "The complete mitogenome of the potentially invasive flatworm Australopacifica atrata (Platyhelminthes, Geoplanidae) displays unusual features common to other Rhynchodeminae". ZooKeys (1110): 121–133. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1110.83228 . ISSN   1313-2970. PMC   9848750 . PMID   36761455.
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