Bipalium kewense Moseley, 1878

Sluys, Ronald, Neumann, Matthias, De Lima, Ricardo F. & Drewes, Robert C., 2017, Land flatworms (Platyhelminthes, Geoplanidae) of São Tomé: a first account on their diversity, with the description of five new species, Zootaxa 4221 (3), pp. 291-322 : 319

Bipalium kewense Moseley, 1878

Material examined. ZMA V.Pl. 7256.1, São Tomé Island, Monte Café, 12 January 2015, coll. Ricardo Lima, preserved specimen.

ZMA V.Pl. 7257.1, São Tomé Island, Monte Café , 22 February 2015, coll. Ricardo Lima, preserved specimen.

ZMA V.Pl. 7258.1, Monte Café, 8 February 2015, coll. Ricardo Lima, preserved specimen.

ZMA V.Pl. 7259.1, São Tomé Island, Monte Café , 3 March 2015, coll. Ricardo Lima, preserved specimen.

ZMA V.Pl. 7260.1, São Tomé Island, Monte Café , March 2015, coll. Ricardo Lima, preserved specimen.

Comparative discussion. All specimens show the typical external features of this species (cf. Winsor 1983), viz. presence of five blackish stripes of which the two most lateral ones fuse shortly before reaching the head and touch the blackish dorsal speck on the semicircular head; the thin median stripe does not reach the head margin ( Figs 48, 49 ). Since the animals could be unequivocally diagnosed through these external features and introduced specimens are frequently asexual, i.e. without copulatory apparatus, we have refrained from producing histological sections. These findings ( Fig. 9 ) represent the first records for Bipalium kewense from São Tomé Island.

Figures

FIGURES 48 – 49. Bipalium kewense. Fig. 48. ZMA V. Pl. 7259.1. Dorsal view of specimen preserved in ethanol. Fig. 49. ZMA V. Pl. 7258.1. Ventral view of specimen preserved in ethanol, showing the protruding pharynx.

FIGURES 9 – 12. Fig. 9. Distributional records of terrestrial planarians used in this study. Red filled circle: Othelosoma lineaenigrum; blue filled triangle: Othelosoma duplamaculosum; purple filled square: Othelosoma impensum; brown filled hexagon: Othelosoma laticlavium; green filled asterisk: Othelosoma simile; black cross: Bipalium kewense. Fig. 10. Othelosoma impensum, holotype, drawing of anterior end of specimen in ethanol. Fig. 11. Othelosoma impensum, holotype, dorsal side of living specimen; scale bar not available. Fig. 12. Othelosoma impensum, holotype, ventral side of living specimen. Scale bar not available.