Anisorhynchodemus sp.

Jones, Hugh D. & Sterrer, Wolfgang, 2005, Terrestrial planarians (Platyhelminthes, with three new species) and nemertines of Bermuda, Zootaxa 1001 (1), pp. 31-58 : 47-48

Anisorhynchodemus sp.

Crozier (1918) reports the finding of single specimen of a “ Geoplana ” from Point Shares, Bermuda. Ogren & Kawakatsu (1990) transferred this to Pseudogeoplana , their collective genus for inadequately described geoplanid species, but no specific name is given. It was 50 mm long and 2 mm wide. The dorsal surface was deep greenish blue with two deep blue or black longitudinal stripes running the length of the animal. The ventral surface was pale greenish­blue. Crozier goes on: “two well­developed pigment spots were present, one on either lateral margin at the anterior end”. This suggests that the specimen may have had only two eyes, in which case it was not a geoplanid but a rhynchodemid. Since the eyes, if that is what they were, were large and lateral it was probably a species of Rhynchodemus . Incompletely described Rhynchodeminae species such as this are now placed in the collective genus Anisorhynchodemus ( Kawakatsu et al. 2003) . Crozier also comments that “since no terrestrial planarians appear to be native to Bermuda, the worm may have been introduced in company with plants”. The specimen was found in a “fertilizer pit” used as a dumping ground for garden refuse. HDJ briefly searched in the area in 2003 but found no more specimens.

Dolichoplana striata Moseley 1877 (Colour Plate 6)

The Natural History Museum, London has a specimen of this species (labelled as D. fieldeni von Graff 1899 . Dolichoplana fieldeni has been synonymised with D. striata by Kawakatsu et al. 2003), accession no 1926.1.1.183. The inner label reads: “ Bermuda Agr. Stn. No 618. Terrestrial planarian. Found on road. 1924. L. Ogilvie” (no details as to the locality). This species was again found in Bermuda in 2003. This remarkably long and thin species has a variable number of dorsal dark stripes, from two to six. It probably reproduces mostly by fission rather than by sexual reproduction. Feeding unknown. This species has been widely distributed around the world through human agency. Its origin may have been Sri Lanka or Indonesia.

Rhynchodemus sylvaticus (Leidy 1851) (Colour Plate 7)

The first record of this species from Bermuda was from under stones in the southwest corner of the Bermuda Botanical Gardens in February 2003, coll. HDJ. It is up to 30 mm long, dark grey with two black lines dorsally. The head is slender and elongate when extended (the “snake­headed flatworm”) and has a pair of large lateral eyes, somewhat behind the anterior tip. It apparently feeds on soil Isopoda and insects. It is widely distributed in Europe, its probable origin ( Jones 1998), and occurs in the USA (Ogren 1998) .