Bipalium

Bipalium
Model of Bipalium strubelli
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Platyhelminthes
Order: Tricladida
Family: Geoplanidae
Subfamily: Bipaliinae
Genus: Bipalium
Stimpson, 1857[1]
Type species
Bipalium fuscatum
Stimpson, 1857
Synonyms
  • Sphyrocephalus Schmarda, 1859
  • Dunlopea Wright, 1860
  • Bipaliura Stimpson, 1861
  • Perocephalus von Graff, 1896 (in part)
  • Placocephalus von Graff, 1896 (in part)
  • Sphaerocephalus Loman, 1888

Bipalium is a genus of large predatory land planarians. They are often called "hammerhead worms" or "broadhead planarians" because of their head shape.[2] Several species are considered as invasive to the United States[3] and Europe.[4][5] Some studies have been done on the evolution and ecology in these planarians.[6]

The name Bipalium comes from Latin bi-, “two” + pala, “shovel” or “spade”. This is because their heads look like a pickaxe.[7]

Species

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The genus Bipalium currently has the following species:

Feeding habits

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Bipalium species are predatory. Some species eat earthworms. Others eat mollusks.[8][9] These flatworms can track their prey.[10] When they eat earthworms, they begin to react to the attack. The flatworm then uses the muscles in its body to attach itself to the earthworm to make it so it can't escape.[11]

Reproduction

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Reproduction in Bipalium may be asexual or sexual. All species are hermaphroditic.

B. adventitium reproduces sexually. They make egg capsules which hatch about 3 weeks later. The egg capsules have a tough outside. They usually have multiple children.[6]

B. kewense sometimes are seen using egg capsules as a primary method of reproduction. Asexual reproduction is its main reproductive strategy in temperate climates. Many of them never get sexual organs.[12] Children of this species aren't the same colors as their parents when they are young. This is unlike other species.[13]

Toxicity

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In 2014, tetrodotoxin, a very dangerous neurotoxin, was found in B. adventitium and B. kewense.[14] It is the first record of tetrodotoxin in terrestrial invertebrates.

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  • Bipalium kewense sighted in Austin, Texas
    Bipalium kewense sighted in Austin, Texas
  • Close up of head of Bipalium kewense
    Close up of head of Bipalium kewense
  • Specimen of Bipalium found in Georgia, United States
    Specimen of Bipalium found in Georgia, United States
  • Hammerhead worm found in Kerala, India
    Hammerhead worm found in Kerala, India
  • Hammerhead worm found in Chennai and Coimbatore , INDIA
    Hammerhead worm found in Chennai and Coimbatore , INDIA
  • Video of a Bipalium sp. from Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico
  • A hammerhead worm seen in Kolkata, India
    A hammerhead worm seen in Kolkata, India
  • Bipalium found in Kerala, India 03.08.2021
    Bipalium found in Kerala, India 03.08.2021
  • Bipalium
    Hammer headed worm / snail found in Kerala, India

References

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  1. ↑ Stimpson (1857). "Prodromus descriptionis animalium evertebratorum quæ in Expeditione ad Oceanum, Pacificum Septentrionalem a Republica Federata missa, Johanne Rodgers Duce, observavit er descripsit. Pars I. Turbellaria Dendrocœla". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 9: 25. JSTOR 4059187.
  2. ↑ Curtis, S.K.; Cowden, R.R.; Moore, J.D.; Robertson, J.L. (1983). "Histochemical and ultrastructural features of the epidermis of land planarian Bipalium adventitium". Journal of Morphology. 175 (2): 171–194. doi:10.1002/jmor.1051750206. PMID 30060639. S2CID 51875789.
  3. ↑ Ogren, R.E. 1985. The human factor in the spread of an exotic land planarian in Pennsylvania. Proc. of the Penn. Acad. of Sci. 59: 117-118.
  4. ↑ Justine, Jean-Lou; Winsor, Leigh; Gey, Delphine; Gros, Pierre; Thévenot, Jessica (2018). "Giant worms chez moi! Hammerhead flatworms (Platyhelminthes, Geoplanidae, Bipalium spp., Diversibipalium spp.) in metropolitan France and overseas French territories". PeerJ. 6: e4672. doi:10.7717/peerj.4672. PMC 5969052. PMID 29844951. open access publication – free to read
  5. ↑ Filella-Subira, E (1983). ""Nota sobre la presència de la planària terrestre Bipalium kewense Moseley, 1878 a Catalunya"". Butll. Inst. Cat. Hist. Nat. 49: 151.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Ducey, P. K.; West, L. J.; Shaw, G.; De Lisle, J. (2005). "Reproductive ecology and evolution in the invasive terrestrial planarian Bipalium adventitium across North America". Pedobiologia. 49 (4): 367. doi:10.1016/j.pedobi.2005.04.002.
  7. ↑ Stimpson, W. (1861). "On the genus Bipaliura". American Journal of Science and Arts. Series 2. 31: 134–135.
  8. ↑ Ogren, R. E. (1995). "Predation behaviour of land planarians". Hydrobiologia. 305 (1–3): 105–111. doi:10.1007/BF00036370. S2CID 31413150.
  9. ↑ Ducey, Peter K.; McCormick, Matthew; Davidson, Elizabeth (2007). "Natural history observations on Bipalium cf. vagum Jones and Sterrer, 2005 (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida), a terrestrial broadhead planarian new to North America". Southeastern Naturalist. 6 (3): 449–460. doi:10.1656/1528-7092(2007)6[449:NHOOBC]2.0.CO;2. JSTOR 4541040. S2CID 83714176.
  10. ↑ Fiore, C.; Tull, J. L.; Zehner, S.; Ducey, P. K. (2004). "Tracking and predation on earthworms by the invasive terrestrial planarian Bipalium adventitium (Tricladida, Platyhelminthes)". Behavioural Processes. 67 (3): 327–334. doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2004.06.001. PMID 15518983. S2CID 23159802.
  11. ↑ Ducey, P. K.; Messere, M.; Lapoint, K.; Noce, S. (1999). "Lumbricid Prey and Potential Herpetofaunal Predators of the Invading Terrestrial Flatworm Bipalium adventitium (Turbellaria: Tricladida: Terricola)". The American Midland Naturalist. 141 (2): 305. doi:10.1674/0003-0031(1999)141[0305:LPAPHP]2.0.CO;2. S2CID 84249249.
  12. ↑ Winsor, L. (1983). "A revision of the cosmopolitan land planarian Bipalium kewense Moseley, 1878 (Turbellaria: Tricladida: Terricola)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 79 (1): 61–100. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1983.tb01161.x. ISSN 0024-4082.
  13. ↑ Ducey, P. K.; Cerqua, J.; West, L. J.; Warner, M. (2006). Eberle, Mark E (ed.). "Rare Egg Capsule Production in the Invasive Terrestrial Planarian Bipalium kewense". The Southwestern Naturalist. 51 (2): 252. doi:10.1894/0038-4909(2006)51[252:RECPIT]2.0.CO;2. S2CID 85970661.
  14. ↑ Stokes, A. N.; Ducey, P. K.; Neuman-Lee, L.; Hanifin, C. T.; French, S. S.; Pfrender, M. E.; Brodie, E. D.; Brodie Jr., E. D. (2014). "Confirmation and Distribution of Tetrodotoxin for the First Time in Terrestrial Invertebrates: Two Terrestrial Flatworm Species (Bipalium adventitium and Bipalium kewense)". PLOS ONE. 9 (6): e100718. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...9j0718S. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0100718. PMC 4070999. PMID 24963791.

Other websites

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