Australopacifica is a genus of land planarians of the tribe Caenoplanini. It was erected to include species lacking sufficient morphological information to allow them to be classified in the appropriate genus.[1]
Australopacifica atrata (Steel, 1897), a species originally described from New South Wales, Australia has invaded the United Kingdom since 2015.[2] Its complete mitogenome was described in 2022, and found to be similar to that of other Rhynchodeminae.[3]
Many species of land planarians described during the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century were classified based solely on external characters. Currently, the land planarian genera are highly based on internal anatomy, especially the anatomy of the copulatory apparatus. As a result, species with old descriptions that were never redescribed, so that their internal anatomy remains unknown, cannot be assigned to the correct genus. Thus, the genus Australopacifica was erected to temporarily accommodate species of the tribe Caenoplanini whose anatomy of the copulatory apparatus is still unknown.[1]
The genus Australopacifica currently contains the following species:
Australopacifica is a genus of land planarians of the tribe Caenoplanini. It was erected to include species lacking sufficient morphological information to allow them to be classified in the appropriate genus.
Australopacifica atrata (Steel, 1897), a species originally described from New South Wales, Australia has invaded the United Kingdom since 2015. Its complete mitogenome was described in 2022, and found to be similar to that of other Rhynchodeminae.
