Bipalium kewense Moseley, 1878

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 : 520

Bipalium kewense Moseley, 1878

Figs. 1, 2 .

Winsor (1983: figs. 1–11; MEXICO: State Unspecified).

Ogren & Kawakatsu (1998: 442; MEXICO: Tamaulipas).

Kawakatsu et al. (2002: 6–7; MEXICO: Queretaro, San Luis Potosi).

de Luna et al. (2022: 925–935; figs. 1B, 2–3, 4; MEXICO: Baja California, Chiapas, Ciudad de Mexico, Coahuila, Colima, Durango, Estado de Mexico, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Michoacan, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro, San Luis Potosi, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, and Zacatecas).

External diagnosis ( de Luna et al. 2022). An elongate species, up to 80 cm. Head laterally expanded into a semilunate head plate with recurved lappets. Dorsal ground color light brown; head with the same color as the dorsum or slightly darker. Dorsum with five longitudinal black to dark-gray or dark-brown stripes: one median, a lateral pair, and a marginal pair. Median stripe black, narrow, and well-marked; it starts behind the neck and broadens over the pharyngeal area. Lateral stripes lighter, broader, and with diffuse margins. Marginal stripes narrow, dark, and well-marked. Lateral and marginal stripes of each side unite behind the neck to form an incomplete collar. Ventral surface light-ochre, with white creeping sole distinct, ridged, and delineated by paired, narrow, diffuse grayish, longitudinal stripes which extend from the ventral portion of the collar to the posterior end; collar interrupted on each side of creeping sole.

Given its semilunate head plate, Bipalium kewense can only be confused with Bipalium vagum . This species is much larger than Bipalium vagum and lacks the complete black collar in the neck region that Bipalium vagum has.

Remarks. Previously, de Luna et al. (2022) overlooked the work of Ogren & Kawakatsu (1998) which has a record for Tamaulipas as well as the work of Kawakatsu et al. (2002) which has records for Queretaro and San Luis Potosi.

Figures

FIGURES 1–4. Illustrations of invasive species of Bipaliinae found in Mexico: dorsal (1) and ventral (2) aspect of Bipalium kewense; dorsal (3) and ventral (3) aspect of Bipalium vagum. Scale bars: 5 mm.