Platydemus manokwari (predator)

Platyhelminthes predators • other predators • Beneficials/natural enemies

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Platydemus manokwari, head on right (click on image to enlarge it)
Author: Shinji Sugiura
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Platydemus manokwari - arrow head: eyes, arrow: grey marginal stripe - scales in cm (click on image to enlarge it)
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Platydemus manokwari (predator) Beauchamp, 1962 - (New Guinea flatworm)

This species is a predatory flatworm which is native to New Guinea and a general predator of land snails. It has been introduced into several countries in attempts to control the giant African snail (Lissachatina fulica). For example, following the spread of the flatworm to Guam island, it was deliberately introduced from Guam into Bugsuk Island (Philippines) to manage an outbreak of the African snail. Encouraged by the success of the introduction, it was released in other islands and was also accidentally introduced into other countries. It is now widely distributed in south-eastern Asia, the Pacific, parts of Australia and in North America.

The flatworm is an important threat to land snails and has been implicated in native land snail population declines and extinctions. It can even climb trees and prey on arboreal snails (Gerlach et al., 2021).