Alarm sounded over New Guinea flatworm invasion – seven years after alien species first discovered
AUTHORITIES HAVE acknowledged the spread of the New Guinea flatworm in Thailand, adding the species to the Tier 1 list of invasive alien species and announcing a joint operation involving eight agencies to cope with its spread – seven years after it was first detected.
New Guinea flatworms have been reported in 27 provinces across the country since October 31, prompting the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry to arrange a meeting to discuss the problem.
Measures agreed at the meeting included DNA verification to confirm the discovery of the species, gathering information on its spreading range, examining its potential to transmit diseases to people, preventing the worm from invading ecologically fragile areas and other countries, and educating people about the worm.
Natural Resources and Environment Ministry permanent secretary Wijarn Simachaya said the Biodiversity Division of the Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning Office, which handles invasive alien species, will include the flatworm on the Tier 1 list of alien species to limit damage to the ecosystem.
The Tier 1 list designates harmful invasive alien species that have been reported in Thailand and should be contained and eliminated, including 138 species of micro-organisms, plants and animals in the latest update.
Wijarn said listing the species would constitute an official acknowledgement of the threat under a 2009 Cabinet resolution, after which a working group will specify measures to prevent the spread and eliminate the alien species.
He added that the Royal Forest Department and National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department had been assigned to prevent the species from spreading into forest areas.
However, he said DNA tests were needed, with the support of the Thailand Research Fund, despite plentiful evidence indicating New Guinea flatworms are present in the country.
He also urged people to monitor moist areas in their gardens, the preferred habitat of the flatworm, and alert authorities via Line if the species is detected to help limit its range. “People do not have to fear diseases transmitted by this worm as long as they wash their hands and vegetables and eat cooked food,” Wijarn said.
However, leading biodiversity expert Nonn Panitvong warned that the flatworm species was a top predator of land slugs and snails, posing a major threat to endemic species. The invader was also easily spread by transporting soil, he added.
Nonn said the official efforts to control the flatworm’s spread was a move in the right direction based on scientific data about the species, but added that|agencies had to work in close cooperation because the species had already colonised areas of the country beyond containment capacity.
The first evidence of the flatworm in the country came in 2010 in Bangkok’s Bang Khen district, Nonn said, while researchers specialising in the species had confirmed that it originated in New Guinea and there was not an indigenous subspecies in Thailand.
New Guinea flatworm invasions have been documented in 22 countries, with the International Union for Conservation of Nature listing it one of the top 100 worst invasive species.