Diporodemus yucatani Hyman, 1938

Luna, Manuel De & Boll, Piter Kehoma, 2023, An annotated checklist of terrestrial flatworms (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida: Geoplanidae) from Mexico, with new records of invasive species from a citizen science platform and a new nomen dubium, Zootaxa 5297 (4), pp. 518-532 : 523-524

Diporodemus yucatani Hyman, 1938

Fig. 10 .

Hyman (1938; MEXICO: Yucatan).

Ogren et al. (1997: 74, 93; catalog).

Ogren & Kawakatsu (1998: 445; error, see below).

Kawakatsu et al. (2000: 86; catalog).

Kawakatsu et al. (2003: 104; catalog).

External diagnosis ( Hyman 1938). Body elongated, salty-black, nearly cylindrical, and blunt at both ends. The anterior end bears a pair of eyes near the tip. Fixed specimens seem to show a reticulated pattern.

The absence of a head plate differentiates it from both species of Bipalium and the paired eyes differ from all recorded Caenoplanini as well as Geoplana multipunctata . It differs from Rhynchodemus sylvaticus and both species of Dolichoplana in that it lacks any kind of stripes, as well as in the size, as this species is very small (around 12 mm).

Remarks. Ogren & Kawakatsu (1998) mention this species for Costa Rica and Diporodemus plenus Hyman, 1941 for Mexico, however, these are errors, as Diporodemus yucatani was described from Yucatan, Mexico, and Diporodemus plenus was described from Panama ( Hyman 1938, 1941; Glasgow 2013). This is the only terrestrial flatworm whose type locality is officially in Mexico: Sabacha Cave, municipality of Tekax, state of Yucatan; it is also likely that it is the only native species described so far.

Figures

FIGURE 10. Diporodemus yucatani. Redrawn from Hyman (1938), dorsal aspect of specimen. Scales not available.