Scientists have discovered a new species of hammerhead flatworm Humbertium covidum. The name Covidum is taken from the COVID-19 pandemic that hit when this species was discovered.
"Furthermore, a large part of this study was written during the lockdown," wrote pathologist Jean-Lou Justine in their research report.
The hammerhead flatworm (known as the genus Bipalium) is a type of predatory earthworm with a distinctive hammer-shaped head. It is a highly invasive species in the US and Europe.
H. covidum is small, about 3 cm long, and metallic black in color with no stripes or other ornamentation, which is rarely found in flatworms. This worm is found in several gardens in France and Italy.
The researchers also described the genitals of the worms in great detail, which is an important method for distinguishing different species and subfamilies. All species of flatworms are hermaphrodites, so they can reproduce sexually or asexually.
These tiny COVID critters weren't the only hammerhead flatworms the team found. They also found one on a French island called Mayotte, resulting in the species name Diversibipalium mayottensis. This one is also about 3 cm long, and has pretty blue-green spots.
Unfortunately, although the researchers were able to obtain a specimen of H. covidum, they could not obtain sufficient specimens of D. mayottensis to fully describe the species. Nonetheless, the researchers believe that D. mayottensis could belong to a new group of hammerhead flatworms.
Furthermore, using next-generation sequencing to analyze larger family trees, the team found that the two newly discovered species came from overseas – H. covidum from somewhere in Asia, and D. mayottensis from Madagascar.
"H. covidum is probably a species that originated in Asia and is an alien species in Europe," the team said.
"Whether it will become an invasive species needs to be monitored in the future," he said. Thus launched Science Alert.