Endeavouria septemlineata (Hyman, 1939)

Material examined: PORTUGAL: Madeira: Funduras, 32.748989°N, - 16.806857°W, 740 m, 7.IX.2019, 1 ex. (GenBank accession number OM 019324), C. Andújar leg., found in a laurel forest soil sample . SPAIN: Canary Islands, Tenerife: El Bailadero, 28.551440°N, - 16.194065°W, 405 m, 10.I.2022, 10 ex., D. Suárez leg., found in a pitfall trap laid on the laurel forest; Carretera El Bailadero, 28.543226ºN, - 16.219725ºW, 740 m, 10.I.2022, 8 exx., C. Andújar leg., found in pitfall traps laid on a laurel forest. La Palma: Camino El Brezal, 28.649035ºN, - 17.778564ºW, 305 m, 26.VIII.2009, 1 ex., J. Pedrianes obs.; 6.V.2012, 1 ex., J. Pedrianes obs.; Camino La Justa, 28.689071ºN, - 17.943783ºW, 650 m, 4.VII.2019, 6 exx. (GenBank accession number OM 019323), J. Matos leg., found in roots of beetroot ( Beta vulgaris); Barranco de Juan Mayor, 28.688932ºN, - 17.776292ºW, 180 m, 1 ex., C. Lozano obs., found in a strawberry ( Fragaria sp.) plantation .

Originally known from Hawaii, E. septemlineata is also present in the Cook Islands, Brazil, Tahiti, and Italy (Justine et al. 2018a; Mori et al. 2022). This constitutes the first report for both Madeira and the Canary Islands. Sequences matched identically to all available sequences on GenBank (Figure 1C).

It is noteworthy that some specimens of O. nungara and E. septemlineata were found in well-preserved humid laurel forest. Recently, Lago-Barcia et al. (2020) found O. nungara in Azores in a natural area comprised of low scrubland and prairies. Caenoplana coerulea in Madeira was found in a scrubland near a beach. Although in the Canary Islands this species is predominantly found in anthropic areas, it has also been found in a subterranean ecosystem (Suárez et al. 2018). Overall, this suggests that contrary to continental settings where land planarians are typically found in anthropic ecosystems, such as gardens or greenhouses (Álvarez-Presas et al. 2014), in oceanic island systems invasive flatworms have the potential to extend their ranges into natural areas, thus posing a threat to endemic invertebrate fauna.