page_title: Obama nungara
section_title: Obama  as an invader in Europe
hierarchical_section_title: Obama nungara / Distribution and ecology / Obama  as an invader in Europe
caption_attribution_description: English: Figure 14 from Article Map of records of Obama nungara in Metropolitan France in the period 2013–2018. Each red dot is a record in the period 2013–2018. Some overlap between dots occurred. Note the concentration of records along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. Mountainous parts (yellow on the map) were not invaded.
context_page_description: Obama nungara is a species of land planarian in the family Geoplaninae. It is native to South America, but has been introduced in Europe.
context_section_description: Since 2008, a large land planarian has been found in several localities in Europe, including Guernsey, Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy and, more recently, Belgium. It was identified as possibly of Neotropical origin and belonging to the genus Obama, but its true identity was not resolved at first. In France, where it seems to be particularly common, it has been nicknamed marron plate (French for flat brown).
  A study published in 2015 identified the species as Obama marmorata based on the morphological redescription of this species by Froehlich. However, a year later, a new study using morphological and molecular analyses including material of Obama marmorata from the type-locality of the species concluded that the invasive species found in Europe, which is also common in southern Brazil and northern Argentina, is a new species, and it was named Obama nungara.
  In a study published in 2020, Obama nungara was recorded from Italy, Switzerland, and 72 of the 96 Departments of Metropolitan France. The species was especially abundant along the Atlantic coast, from the Spanish border to Brittany, and along the Mediterranean coast, from the Spanish border to the Italian border. More than half of the records were from an altitude below 50 m, and no record was from above 500 m; mountainous regions such as the Alps, Pyrenees and Massif Central were not invaded. Local abundance was considered  impressive, with hundreds of specimens found in a small garden. On the basis of a molecular analysis, the study also concluded that the population which has invaded several countries in Europe came from Argentina, not Brazil.
caption: The invasion of Metropolitan France by Obama nungara - each read dot is a record
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