Stunning Flatworm - again!

Last year I found a small, highly mottled orange and red flatworm. It was Marionfyfea adventor, new for Scotland and the most northerly record in the world! Except the vodka I popped it into wasn't pure enough for the specialist to DNA barcode it for me, he said it had degenerated too far to get a meaningful result. Arse. 

This afternoon the sun came out again, so I nipped down to the shore after work and had a rummage amongst the part-buried stones at the top of the beach. Not much, a couple of small staphylinids to check later and lots of mites. 

Heading up onto the grassy strip at the top of the beach, I turned a few more boulders and (somehow) spotted a tiny flatworm, moving in a strange fashion. I estimated it to be about 7 or 8mm in length and somewhere around 0.5mm width. I zoomed in with my camera and was shocked to find myself looking at what seemed to be a very pale Marionfyfea adventor! I took a barrage of pics, most of which were blurry, but jammed a handful of half-decent ones amongst the dross. None of these pics have been altered at all, not even cropped - just straight off the camera card.

The flatworms I often find up here are Microplana terrestris and Microplana scharffi, plus Kontikia andersoni on a rather more irregular basis. Oh, and I've started finding Arthurdendyus triangulatus the New Zealand Flatworm lately too, though I'm not a fan of that. But this thing moved very differently to any of those species, it was quite fast for starters - the others are generally rather inactive, or sluggish at best. This thing was very reminiscent of Rhynchodemus sylvaticus, the so-called Snake-headed Flatworm, which crawls along with its head raised in the air, as though scenting its way forward after prey. But this wasn't Rhynchodemus, this thing had dozens of tiny eyes along the sides of the head rather than one large pair. Here's a shaky vid of the beast in action. Apologies for the shake and somewhat transient focus!

In the end I decided not to collect it, firstly because I couldn't see a way of getting it off the rock and into a pot without damaging it beyond repair, and secondly because I don't have alcohol pure enough to make it worth keeping the ruined, shredded body even if I could get it off the rock. Damn.

But I'm happy that this really is Marionfyfea adventor, Brian Eversham's Many-eyed Flatworm, described as new to science in 2016. You can see Brian's pic and his short account of the finding by clicking here!

Music time. I have to admit, looking through my recent YouTube history, there isn't an awful lot that seems particularly relevant to non-native flatworm identification. But it was pretty damned small, and I ABSOLUTELY ADORE this track. No idea why, I don't like much else of theirs that I've heard, but this is amazing. 

Plus the singer really does have the most captivating face...ahem....