Marionfyfea adventor

Marionfyfea adventor

"Marionfyfea adventor" is a species of land planarian described in 2016 from specimens found in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France. However, since the species belongs to the genus "Marionfyfea", of which the species are known only from subantarctic islands off New Zealand, it is probably an introduced species in Europe.
Many-eyed Flatworm (Marionfyfea adventor) This is a find to be rightly a little excited (and perhaps a little concerned) by. Marionfyfea adventor, a small terrestial flatworm, is a new species first discovered and described in the UK (and a small handful of European countries) as recently as 2016. There are still only 16 records on NBN Atlas. M. adventor belongs to a genus of which there is only one other known species, 'Marionfyfea carnleyi', found in the sub-antarctic islands of New Zealand. A species itself only first described in 1953. It's thought M. adventor may have originally been accidentally introduced to Europe some time ago, but lay undiscovered? I found this individual while I was photographing a Notiophilus sp. beetle at the base of a dead tree stump in a nearby woodland clearing from which Ash-dieback infected trees had been removed last year. Marionfyfea advetor measures about 1 to 2 cm in length when extended. The dorsum is cream-coloured and has two broad dark brown lateral stripes, while the venter is uniformly cream. They have multiple eyes are arranged in a single row around the body margin, being more concentrated at the anterior end. Unfortunately, of around 21 species of terrestrial flatworms in the UK, just FOUR are native with most invasive species like this one, originating from Australia and New Zealand. Since the majority feed on the earthworms so critical both to the ecosystem and to the food chain they pose a potentially serious threat. Geotagged,Marionfyfea adventor,Summer,United Kingdom

Appearance

"Marionfyfea adventor" is a relatively small species of land planarian, being about 1 cm long by 1 mm wide; when contracted, the body is plump, about 5 mm long and 1.5 mm wide. The dorsal and lateral surfaces are irregularly patchy light and dark brown colour with small iridescent blue spots. The creeping sole is uniform paler brown and about 40% of body width. There are 70-80 eyes in total.

Naming

Hugh Jones and Ronald Sluys wrote: "It is probable that "M. adventor" originates from one of the subantarctic islands or main islands of New Zealand. The most likely means of introduction to Europe is the international horticultural trade. Its widely scattered distribution suggests that it may have been in Europe for some considerable time."

Distribution

"Marionfyfea adventor" has been recorded in widely scattered localities in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, France, Germany, Denmark and Ireland. More recently, it has also been found in Belgium.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionPlatyhelminthes
ClassRhabditophora
OrderTricladida
FamilyGeoplanidae
GenusMarionfyfea
SpeciesM. adventor
Photographed in
United Kingdom