A scientific study detects the presence of tropical exotic planarians in the Iberian Peninsula

Terrestrial planarians are flatworms of the phylum Platyhelminthes with a cosmopolitan distribution. Some planarians from tropical latitudes -larger and more coloured than native ones- were introduced in Europe and North America. Tropical planarians detected in Europe are a potential risk to invertebrate soil fauna, native land planarians and some vertebrate species with the same feeding habits (particularly, birds and small mammals).

Experts explain that "planarian invasion might cause significant economic losses in agriculture and damage to the ecosystem. To be exact, the planarian Arthurdendyus triangulatus, native from New Zealand and common in Scotland, feeds on earthworm populations and, consequently, alters natural ecosystems and agricultural conditions (soil oxygen deficiency, inadequate drainage, inundation of agricultural land, etc.)".

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