Home » New predatory worm “Covidum” discovered in Casier

New predatory worm “Covidum” discovered in Casier

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A hammer worm was found in Casier

Found in a garden, it belongs to the hammer family: “Threatens biodiversity”

LOCKER. A new discovery in Italy alien species of predatory worm which could threaten the soil biodiversity: it is a worm with hammer head 30 millimeters long, greedy of small snails and characterized by an unusual metallic black livery.

The animal, probably native to Asia and potentially invasive, was found in a courtyard in Casier: studied and described during the lockdown, it was named Humbertium covidum in homage to the victims of the pandemic. His identikit is published in the PeerJ journal by an international research group led by Jean-Lou Justine of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.

“Due to the pandemic, many of us were at home with the laboratories closed during the lockdown: no field expedition was possible. So – recalls Jean-Lou Justine – I convinced my colleagues to put together all the information we had on these flatworms, do the computer analyzes and finally write this very long article. We have decided to name one of the new species ‘covidum’ paying homage to the victims of the pandemic ».

Humbertium covidum specimens have also been described in France (in the Pyrenees Atlantiques department), while other sightings seem to suggest the presence of the species in Russia, China and Japan. Thanks to morphological and genetic investigations, the researchers also discovered and described a second potentially invasive alien species of predatory worm: they called it Diversibipalium mayottensis because it was identified on the French island of Mayotte, located in the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. . The species, probably native to Madagascar, is small (30 millimeters) and is characterized by its brown livery with green and blue iridescences.

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