Giacinta Angela Stocchino

TL;DR: A DNA barcoding method is developed, based on COI and ITS-1 sequences, which allows the assignment of the fissiparous forms to sexual species in planarians of the genus Dugesia.

TL;DR: Analysis of genetic variability and demographic parameters within the species and between its sexual and asexual populations to estimate when they diverged suggests that in the mainland localities of Europe and Africa, sexual individuals of S. mediterranea are being replaced by asexual individuals that are either conspecific or are from other species that are better adapted to the Mediterranean climate.

TL;DR: The data indicate that conservation of this Mediterranean palaeoendemic species with a spot‐like distribution may be a challenge for the western Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas to confer protection to numerous co‐occurring cave‐dwelling species.

TL;DR: The fissiparous populations of D. sicula appear to have a high degree of tolerance to variations in environmental factors, especially temperature, within the D. gonocephala group, which has the broadest distribution in the Mediterranean region.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provided the first conservation assessment of cave-dwelling planarians in the Italian Alps and Apennines, whose status is at present Not Evaluated in IUCN categories and evaluated which environmental constraints, including potential threats, possibly affect the occurrence of the species within different cave systems.