''Obama josefi'' 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.

Description

''Obama josefi'' has a lanceolate body, very flat in larger specimens, which may reach 130 mm in length, although most specimens are smaller. The color of ''O. josefi'' varies according to its age, a phenomenon known as etary polymorphism. In young specimens, the dorsal ground color is yellowish. A dark-brown to black median stripe runs longitudinally along the body. Additionally, there is a wide lateral longitudinal band of the same color of the stripe on each side. The stripe and the bands usually do not reach the anterior tip, which has an orange tinge more or less concentrated, sometimes forming a dense zone that resembles a collar. As the animal enters sexual maturation, the dorsum starts to accumulate dark flecks behind the orange anterior end, so that the yellow and dark pattern of stripes becomes less conspicuous. In fully mature specimens, the number of flecks is high enough so that the dorsum appears to be of a uniform greenish dark-brown color. However, the anterior end continues to have an orange appearance, although usually darker than in the younger specimens. Obama josefi eating

Distribution

The habitat of ''O. josefi'' includes moist and seasonal forests in northeast

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 ...

and east Santa Catarina, southern Brazil.

Etymology

The specific epithet ''josefi'' honors Dr. Josef Hauser S. J., founder of the Institute of Planarian Research at

Unisinos Unisinos (Portuguese: ''Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos'' -- literally "University of Bells' River Valley") is a Brazilian private Jesuit university founded in 1969. Its main campus is located in Southern Brazil, in the city of São Leopol ...

Diet

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 ...

experiments, ''O. josefi'' captured and consumed the invasive land planarian ''

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 '' Caenopla ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q25095548 Geoplanidae Platyhelminthes of Brazil