''Rhynchomesostoma rostratum'' is a species of
rhabdocoel 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 ...
s in the family
Typhloplanidae.
Description
The animal is 1.5 to 3.5 mm long
and transparent. The anterior end is retractable.
Taxonomy
It was described by
Otto Friedrich Müller
Otto Friedrich Müller, also known as Otto Friedrich Mueller (2 November 1730 – 26 December 1784) was a Danish naturalist and scientific illustrator.
Biography
Müller was born in Copenhagen. He was educated for the church, became tutor to a yo ...
in 1774 as ''Fasciola rostrata''.
Distribution and habitat
The species has been recorded in Europe, India, Kenya,
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
, and the US.
Ecology and behavior
It preys on
oligochaetes
Oligochaeta () is a subclass of animals in the phylum Annelida, which is made up of many types of aquatic and terrestrial worms, including all of the various earthworms. Specifically, oligochaetes comprise the terrestrial megadrile earthworms ...
,
cladocerans,
copepod
Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...
s, other microturbellarians, and
mosquito larvae and other aquatic insects. It is preyed upon by the flatworm ''
Phaenocora unipunctata''.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2537276
Rhabdocoela
Taxa named by Otto Friedrich Müller