Tasmanoplana

Tasmanoplana
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Platyhelminthes
Class:	Rhabditophora
Order:	Tricladida
Suborder:	Continenticola
Family:	Geoplanidae
Subfamily:	Rhynchodeminae
Tribe:	Caenoplanini
Genus:	Tasmanoplana; Winsor, 1991
Type species
	Planaria tasmaniana; Darwin, 1844

Tasmanoplana is a genus of land planarians from Australia.

Description

The genus Tasmanoplana is characterized by having an elongate, subcylindrical body that is flat ventrally. The creeping sole occupies more than two thirds of the body width. The eyes are small and arranged along the body margins in a single row from the anterior to the posterior end. The parenchymal musculature includes very strong and compact longitudinal fibers forming a ring around the intestine. The copulatory apparatus has a small penis papilla and a diverticulum ventral to the female atrium that opens into the copulatory canal.^[1]

Etymology

The word Tasmanoplana is a combination of Tasmania, the island in which Charles Darwin collected the first specimen of the genus, and Latin plana, flat.^[1]

Species

The genus Australoplana includes the following species:

Tasmanoplana balfouri (von Graff, 1899)
Tasmanoplana comitatis (Dendy, 1915)
Tasmanoplana tasmaniana (Darwin, 1844)

References

^ ^a ^b Winsor, L. (1991). "A provisional classification of Australian terrestrial geoplanid flatworms (Tricladida: Terricola: Geoplanidae)". Victorian Naturalist. 109 (2): 42–49.

[Winsor1991-1] Winsor, L. (1991). "A provisional classification of Australian terrestrial geoplanid flatworms (Tricladida: Terricola: Geoplanidae)". Victorian Naturalist. 109 (2): 42–49.

[1]