''Pseudoceros laingensis '' is a marine

flatworm The flatworms, flat worms, Platyhelminthes, or platyhelminths (from the Greek πλατύ, ''platy'', meaning "flat" and ἕλμινς (root: ἑλμινθ-), ''helminth-'', meaning "worm") are a phylum of relatively simple bilaterian, unsegment ...

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 ...

that belongs to the

Pseudocerotidae Pseudocerotidae is a family of flatworms which includes the Bedford's flatworm. Pseudocerotidae are simple organisms categorized by their oval bodies and tentacles and bright colors. They use the cilia to glide along surfaces. Most commonly refer ...

family.

Common name

Flatworm of Laing : this name comes from the place it had been described the first time in

Laing Island Laing may refer to: People * Laing (surname), a Scottish surname Companies * Arriva UK Trains, a British transport company formerly known as Laing Rail * John Laing Group, a British construction company *Laing O'Rourke, a British construction ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

Distribution

Central Tropical Indo-Pacific, from

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Habitat

External slope or top of

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

Size

Up to .

Physical characteristics

"External anatomy: Cream background with widely spaced scattered purple spots. Each spot is formed by microdots, denser in the middle with fine dots outwards. The ventral side is cream. Pseudotentacles are formed by simple folds of the anterior margin with small scattered pseudotentacular eyes on the margin. A horseshoe shaped cerebral cluster with about 100 eyespots. A big and wide pharynx formed by elaborated folds. Internal anatomy: The male system is formed by branched vas deferens, a rounded oblong seminal vesicle connected to a long and coiled ejaculatory duct, a large oval prostatic vesicle and a long pointed, and narrow cuticular stylet housed in a deep and voluminous antrum. The female antrum is deep and wide with a narrow and short vagina surrounded by the cement glands."Author Bolanos Marcela, extract from http://polycladida.lifedesks.org/pages/3101

Behaviour

Benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

, diurnals, because of its aposematic colors, it has no fear to crawl around to feed.

Feeding

''Pseudoceros laingensis'' feeds on various colonial ascidians.

External links

Life Desk, Pseudoceros laingensis

Discover Life, Pseudoceros laingensis

Turbellarian taxonomic database, Pseudoceros laingensis

Bibliographical References

* Leslie Newman & Lester Cannon, "Marine Flatworms",CSIRO publishing,2003, * Neville Coleman, "Marine life of Maldives",Atoll editions,2004, * Andrea & Antonnella Ferrrari,"Macrolife",Nautilus publishing,2003, Turbellaria Animals described in 1998 {{flatworm-stub