Crenobia alpina explained

Crenobia alpina, known as the alpine flatworm, is a species of triclad belonging to the family Planariidae.^[1] They are found across the Alps.

Taxonomy

Crenobia alpina has been considered by some to be a species complex,^[2] with some subspecies of Crenobia alpina being placed as separate species within the genus Crenobia, and others having uncertain taxonomic placement. All subspecies are found within mountainous regions of Europe, particularly the Alps, but have been found within mountainous areas of Eastern Europe as well.

Recognized subspecies include:

• C. a. alba (Oye, 1935) - Central Europe, the Alps and Great Britain^[3]
• C. a. alpina(Dana, 1766) - Central Europe, the Alps, Great Britain, Romania
• C. a. anophthalma (Mrazek, 1907) (sometimes considered to be a separate species, Crenobia anophthalma) - Dinaric Alps, Montenegro^[4]
• C. a. bathycola (Steinmann, 1911) (sometimes considered to be a separate species, Crenobia bathycola) - Swiss Alps
• C. a. corsica (Arndt, 1920) (sometimes considered to be a separate species, Crenobia corsica) - Corsica
• C. a. meridionalis (Thienemann, 1938) - Northern Europe
• C. a. montenigrina (Mrazek, 1904) (both this subspecies and the species Crenobia montenegrina, under the same describing authority, are accepted by taxonomic databases) - Lake Ohrid, Romania
• C. a. septentrionalis|(Thienemann, 1938) - Southern Europe, Rügen^[5]
• C. a. teratophila (Steinmann, 1908) (both this subspecies and the species Crenobia teratophila, under the same describing authority, are accepted by taxonomic databases)

Notes and References

1. Tyler, S., Artois, T.; Schilling, S.; Hooge, M.; Bush, L.F. (eds) (2006-2023). World List of turbellarian worms: Acoelomorpha, Catenulida, Rhabditophora. Crenobia alpina (Dana, 1766). Accessed 2023-06-24.
2. Brändle, M., Sauer, J., Opgenoorth, L., and Brandl, R. (2017). Genetic diversity in the Alpine flatworm Crenobia alpina, Web Ecol., 17, 29–35, .
3. Sluys . Ronald . 2022 . Biogeography and diversification of the freshwater planarian Crenobia alpina sensu lato (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida): A synthetic review . Zoologischer Anzeiger . en . 300 . 12–26 . 10.1016/j.jcz.2022.05.010.
4. Tyler, S., Artois, T.; Schilling, S.; Hooge, M.; Bush, L.F. (eds) (2006-2023). World List of turbellarian worms: Acoelomorpha, Catenulida, Rhabditophora. Crenobia alpina anophthalma (Dana, 1766). Accessed 2023-06-24.
5. Brändle, M., Roland Heuser, Andreas Marten, & Brandl, R. (2007). Population Structure of the Freshwater Flatworm Crenobia alpina (Dana): Old Lineages and Low Gene Flow. Journal of Biogeography, 34(7), 1183–1192.