A peer-reviewed open-access journal ZooKeys 506: 1–12 (2015)The taxonomic status of Dugesia biblica from Israel and Turkey... 1 doi: 10.3897/zookeys.506.9663 RESEARCH ARTICLE http://zookeys.pensoft.net Launched to accelerate biodiversity research The taxonomic status of Dugesia biblica from Israel and Turkey (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Dugesiidae) Eduard Solà1, Ronald Sluys2, Ori Segev3, Leon Blaustein3, Marta Riutort1 1 Departament de Genètica, Facultat de Biologia and Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Universi- tat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028, Barcelona, Spain 2 Naturalis Biodiversity Center, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands3 Department of Evolutionary & Environmental Biology and Institute of Evolution, Faculty of Sciences, University of Haifa, 3498838, Haifa, Israel Corresponding author: Eduard Solà (
[email protected]) Academic editor: F. Govedich | Received 23 March 2015 | Accepted 28 April 2015 | Published 28 May 2015 http://zoobank.org/AE94B343-614E-45E5-857E-DEB86A90DF98 Citation: Solà E, Sluys R, Segev O, Blaustein L, Riutort M (2015) The taxonomic status ofDugesia biblica from Israel and Turkey (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Dugesiidae). ZooKeys 506: 1–12. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.506.9663 Abstract The taxonomic status of Dugesia biblica (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Dugesiidae) from Israel and Turkey is problematic due to its morphological similarity with D. sicula since these nominal species present over- lapping characters. In this study we analyzed histological preparations of specimens of these two nominal species and also compared mitochondrial COI gene sequences from Israeli populations to the already known haplotype composition of D. sicula. We concluded that these animals belong to the same species and therefore we consider D.