Hammerhead Flatworm
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Hammerhead Flatworm
''Bipalium'' is a genus of large predatory land planarians. They are often loosely called "hammerhead worms" or "broadhead planarians" because of the distinctive shape of their head region. Land planarians are unique in that they possess a "creeping sole", a highly ciliated region on the ventral epidermis that helps them to creep over the substrate. Several species are considered invasive to the United States, Canada, and to Europe. Some studies have begun the investigation of the evolutionary ecology of these invasive planarians. Etymology The name ''Bipalium'' comes from Latin ''bi-'', "two" + ''pala'', "shovel" or "spade", because species in this genus resemble a pickaxe. Description The genus ''Bipalium'' was initially defined by Stimpson to include land planarians with the head broadened, forming a head plate. Later, in 1899, Ludwig von Graff divided it into three genera according to the shape of the head: #''Bipalium'': with a well-developed head plate, much broader t ...
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William Stimpson
William Stimpson (February 14, 1832 – May 26, 1872) was a noted American scientist. He was interested particularly in marine biology. Stimpson became an important early contributor to the work of the Smithsonian Institution and later, director of the Chicago Academy of Sciences. Biography Stimpson was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Herbert Hathorne Stimpson and Mary Ann Devereau Brewer. The Stimpsons were of the colonial stock of Massachusetts, the earliest known member of the family being James Stimpson, who was married in 1661, in Milton. His mother died at an early age. William Stimpson's father was an ingenious inventor, and a leading merchant of Boston in the mid decades of the nineteenth century, trading as "H. & F. Stimpson, stoves and furnaces, corner of Congress and Water Streets. It was he who invented the "Stimpson range", the first sheet-iron cooking stove, famous in its day throughout New England. He also made improvements in rifles, and suggested the placin ...
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Earthworm
An earthworm is a terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. They exhibit a tube-within-a-tube body plan; they are externally segmented with corresponding internal segmentation; and they usually have setae on all segments. They occur worldwide where soil, water, and temperature allow. Earthworms are commonly found in soil, eating a wide variety of organic matter. This organic matter includes plant matter, living protozoa, rotifers, nematodes, bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms. An earthworm's digestive system runs the length of its body. An earthworm respires (breathes) through its skin. It has a double transport system made of coelomic fluid that moves within the fluid-filled coelom and a simple, closed circulatory system. It has a central and peripheral nervous system. Its central nervous system consists of two ganglia above the mouth, one on either side, connected to a nerve running along its length to motor neurons and sensory cells in each s ...
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University Of Florida
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its Gainesville campus since September 1906. After the Florida state legislature's creation of performance standards in 2013, the Florida Board of Governors designated the University of Florida as a "preeminent university". For 2022, '' U.S. News & World Report'' ranked Florida as the fifth (tied) best public university and 28th (tied) best university in the United States. The University of Florida is the only member of the Association of American Universities in Florida and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). It is the third largest Florida university by student population,Nathan Crabbe, UF is no longer la ...
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Bipalium Kewense
''Bipalium kewense'' is a species of large predatory land planarian with a cosmopolitan distribution. It is sometimes referred to as a "hammerhead flatworm" due to its half-moon-shaped head, but this name is also used to refer to other species in the subfamily Bipaliinae. Description ''Bipalium kewense'' is a very long land planarian. Preserved specimens are up to 20 centimetres in length, and living specimens may be longer. The anterior end ("head") is expanded in a transversal semilunate shape and the body is the narrowest just behind the head, in a region called "neck". The dorsal color is light-brown with five black to grey longitudinal stripes that begin at the neck. The median and marginal stripes are narrow and black, very distinctly marked. The lateral stripes (between the median and marginal stripes) are usually grey, broad and with diffuse margins. The neck is usually marked by an incomplete black collar formed by the union of the marginal and lateral stripes, this b ...
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Rhynchodemus
''Rhynchodemus'' is a genus of land planarians Geoplanidae is a family of flatworms known commonly as land planarians or land flatworms. These flatworms are mainly predators of other invertebrates, which they hunt, attack and capture using physical force and the adhesive and digestive proper ... in the tribe Rhynchodemini. Description Species of the genus ''Rhynchodemus'' are characterized by an elongate body that is attenuated at both ends, oval or round in cross section. The creeping sole occupies most of the ventral surface and the anterior end has two large eyes. The copulatory apparatus has a large chamber with folded epithelium in the male atrium, without a penis papilla. Species The genus ''Rhynchodemus'' includes the following species: * '' Rhynchodemus americanus'' Hyman, 1943 * '' Rhynchodemus angustus'' (Hyman, 1941) * '' Rhynchodemus aripensis'' Prudhoe, 1949 * '' Rhynchodemus blainvillei'' von Graff, 1899 * '' Rhynchodemus bromelicola'' de Beauchamp, 1912 ...
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Arthurdendyus Triangulatus
The New Zealand flatworm (''Arthurdendyus triangulatus'') is a large land flatworm native to New Zealand. It can vary from 5 mm in length when hatched to approximately in mature adults. The New Zealand flatworm is considered an invasive species in parts of Europe. This species is included since 2019 in the list of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern (the Union list). This implies that this species cannot be imported, bred, transported, commercialized, or intentionally released into the environment in the whole of the European Union. Description The ventral surface of the flatworm is a pale buff colour while the dorsal surface is dark brown. Young flatworms vary in colour from white to pale orange and develop their adult colouration as they grow. During the day, flatworms can be found resting on the surface of soil underneath objects in close contact with the ground. They may also be found beneath the soil surface hunting for earthworms. Reproduction involves the pro ...
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Neurotoxin
Neurotoxins are toxins that are destructive to nerve tissue (causing neurotoxicity). Neurotoxins are an extensive class of exogenous chemical neurological insultsSpencer 2000 that can adversely affect function in both developing and mature nervous tissue.Olney 2002 The term can also be used to classify endogenous compounds, which, when abnormally contacted, can prove neurologically toxic. Though neurotoxins are often neurologically destructive, their ability to specifically target neural components is important in the study of nervous systems. Common examples of neurotoxins include lead, ethanol (drinking alcohol), glutamate,Choi 1987 nitric oxide, botulinum toxin (e.g. Botox), tetanus toxin,Simpson 1986 and tetrodotoxin. Some substances such as nitric oxide and glutamate are in fact essential for proper function of the body and only exert neurotoxic effects at excessive concentrations. Neurotoxins inhibit neuron control over ion concentrations across the cell membrane, or com ...
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Tetrodotoxin
Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a potent neurotoxin. Its name derives from Tetraodontiformes, an order that includes pufferfish, porcupinefish, ocean sunfish, and triggerfish; several of these species carry the toxin. Although tetrodotoxin was discovered in these fish and found in several other animals (e.g., in blue-ringed octopuses, rough-skinned newts, and moon snails), it is actually produced by certain infecting or symbiotic bacteria like ''Pseudoalteromonas'', ''Pseudomonas'', and ''Vibrio'' as well as other species found in animals. Tetrodotoxin is a sodium channel blocker. It inhibits the firing of action potentials in neurons by binding to the voltage-gated sodium channels in nerve cell membranes and blocking the passage of sodium ions (responsible for the rising phase of an action potential) into the neuron. This prevents the nervous system from carrying messages and thus muscles from contracting in response to nervous stimulation. Its mechanism of action, selective blocking o ...
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Hermaphrodite
In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrates) do not have separate sexes. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which either partner can act as the female or male. For example, the great majority of tunicata, tunicates, pulmonate molluscs, opisthobranch, earthworms, and slugs are hermaphrodites. Hermaphroditism is also found in some fish species and to a lesser degree in other vertebrates. Most plants are also hermaphrodites. Animal species having different sexes, male and female, are called Gonochorism, gonochoric, which is the opposite of hermaphrodite. There are also species where hermaphrodites exist alongside males (called androdioecy) or alongside females (called gynodioecy), or all three exist in the same species ( ...
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Pharynx
The pharynx (plural: pharynges) is the part of the throat behind the mouth and nasal cavity, and above the oesophagus and trachea (the tubes going down to the stomach and the lungs). It is found in vertebrates and invertebrates, though its structure varies across species. The pharynx carries food and air to the esophagus and larynx respectively. The flap of cartilage called the epiglottis stops food from entering the larynx. In humans, the pharynx is part of the digestive system and the conducting zone of the respiratory system. (The conducting zone—which also includes the nostrils of the nose, the larynx, trachea, bronchi, and bronchioles—filters, warms and moistens air and conducts it into the lungs). The human pharynx is conventionally divided into three sections: the nasopharynx, oropharynx, and laryngopharynx. It is also important in vocalization. In humans, two sets of pharyngeal muscles form the pharynx and determine the shape of its lumen. They are arranged as an ...
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Peristomium
The peristomium is the first true body segment in an annelid worm's body in the anterior end. It is directly behind the prostomium and contains the mouth, tentacular cirri, and sometimes feeding palps, which may instead occur on the prostomium. If an eversible pharynx is present, it is contained in this segment as well, and can fill up to 20 segments when inverted, depending on the species. The prostomium and peristomium can be variously fused, either completely distinct, or comprising a joint structure of a peristomial ring and a tentacular crown. See also *Prostomium *Pygidium The pygidium (plural pygidia) is the posterior body part or shield of crustaceans and some other arthropods, such as insects and the extinct trilobites. In groups other than insects, it contains the anus and, in females, the ovipositor. It is compo ... References {{Reflist Annelid anatomy ...
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