Planaria Melanotorquis

''Planaria'' is a genus of planarians in the family Planariidae. When an individual is cut into pieces, each piece has the ability to regenerate into a fully formed individual.

Description

Currently the genus ''Planaria'' is defined as freshwater triclads with oviducts that unite to form a common oviduct without embracing the bursa copulatrix and with an adenodactyl present in the male atrium. The testes occur along the whole body.

Planaria originally have habitats in dark, murky water which results in such sensitivity (Paskin et al., 2014). They are also sensitive to other stimuli such as chemical gradients, vibration, magnetic and electric fields (Deochand et al., 2018). Their central nervous system includes the anterior (head, brain and eyes) and middle (abdominal trunk and pharynx) (Deochand et al., 2018).

Diet

The food of ''Planaria'' species includes freshwater gastropods, tubificid worms, and freshwater arthropods, such as isopods of the genus '' Asellus'' and chironomid larvae. In the United Kingdom, ''P. torva'' is a successful predator of the invasive New Zealand mud snail (''Potamopyrgus jenkinsi'').

Species

The following species are recognised in the genus ''Planaria'':

*''Planaria adhaerens''
*'' Planaria albocingata''
*''Planaria barroisi''
*''Planaria bicingulata''
*''Planaria chulunginensis''
*''Planaria cincinata''
*''Planaria cinerea''
*'' Planaria dagarensis''
*''Planaria debilis''
*''Planaria delineata''
*''Planaria dybouskyi''
*''Planaria flava''
*''Planaria fontana''
*''Planaria fuliginosa''
*''Planaria fuliginosus''
*''Planaria fulvifrons''
*''Planaria fuscomaculata''
*''Planaria gigas''
*''Planaria grubii''
*'' Planaria ignorata''
*'' Planaria incerta''
*''Planaria kempi''
*''Planaria lemani''
*''Planaria lucta''
*'' Planaria luteola''
*'' Planaria macrocephala''
*'' Planaria maculata''
*''Planaria marmorosa''
*''Planaria melanocerca''
*''Planaria melanopunctata''
*'' Planaria melanotorquis''
*'' Planaria nesidensis''
*''Planaria onegensis''
*'' Planaria punctatum''
*'' Planaria rosea''
*'' Planaria rothii''
*''Planaria sabussowi''
*''Planaria savignyi''
*''Planaria semifasciata''
*'' Planaria simplex''
*'' Planaria sinensis''
*''Planaria subflava''
*'' Planaria torva''
*''Planaria tremellaris''
*'' Planaria unionicola''
*''Planaria verrucosa''
*''Planaria wytegrensis''
*''Planaria zeylanica''

References

*Deochand, N., Costello, M. S., & Deochand, M. E. (2018). Behavioral Research with Planaria. Perspectives on behavior science, 41(2), 447–464. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40614-018-00176-w

Continenticola
Rhabditophora genera

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