''Obama anthropophila'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian

land planarian 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 subfamily

Geoplaninae Geoplaninae is a subfamily of land planarians endemic to the Neotropical region. However, one species, ''Obama nungara'' has been introduced in Europe. Description The subfamily Geoplaninae was initially defined by Ogren and Kawakatsu (1990)Ogre ...

. It is a very common land planarian in human-disturbed environments in southern and southeastern Brazil.

Description

''Obama anthropophila'' is a medium-sized land planarian with a lanceolate body. The largest specimens have a length of about or more. The dorsum varies from dark to light brown, becoming lighter towards the body margins. The ventral side is pale grey or brown and has a darker margin that is a continuation of the color of the dorsum. It is very similar in appearance to the closely related '' Obama decidualis'' and '' Obama ladislavii'', the main difference with the latter being the color. Obama anthropophila pregnant

The numerous of eyes of ''O. anthropophila'' are distributed marginally on the first millimeters of the body and posteriorly become dorsal, occupying almost the entire body width at the median third. Posteriorly they become less numerous. The dorsal eyes are surrounded by a region without pigmentation (halo), which can be visible on darker individuals through fine inspection as a set of small light dots. On fully mature specimens, two irregular rows of spots with a darker tinge may be seen on the first half of the body. Those rows are the many dorsal testicles visible through the body.

Distribution

''Obama anthropophila'' has been recorded in southern and southeastern Brazil, from

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

. It is mainly found in human-disturbed environments and at the border of native subtropical forests.

Diet

In the

laboratory A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physicia ...

, ''O. anthropophila'' captures and consumes small land

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

s, including some agricultural pests, such as ''

Bradybaena similaris ''Bradybaena similaris'', the Asian trampsnail, is a species of small, invasive land snail. It is a pulmonate gastropod terrestrial mollusc in the family Bradybaenidae. It earned the common name based on its origins, and its habit of roosting on ...

'', ''

Cornu aspersum ''Cornu aspersum'' (syn. ''Cryptomphalus aspersus''), known by the common name garden snail, is a species of land snail in the family Helicidae, which includes some of the most familiar land snails. Of all terrestrial molluscs, this species may ...

'' and ''

Deroceras laeve ''Deroceras laeve'', the marsh slug, is a species of small air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Agriolimacidae. Distribution The distribution of ''Deroceras laeve'' was originally Palearctic, from ...

''. It also feeds on other land planarians, such as '' Luteostriata abundans'', which probably constitute its main native prey, and invasive species, such as '' Dolichoplana carvalhoi'' and ''

Endeavouria septemlineata ''Endeavouria'' is a monotypic genus of land planarians from the Pacific region. It contains a single species, ''Endeavouria septemlineata''. Description The genus ''Endeavouria'' is similar to other closely related genera, such as '' Caenopl ...

''. On rare occasions, it may even prey on other species of the same genus, such as '' Obama ladislavii''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q25095534 Geoplanidae Invertebrates of Brazil