Polycladus
| Polycladus | |
|---|---|
| File:Polycladus gayi.jpg | |
| Polycladus gayi | |
| Scientific classification | |
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| Genus: |
Polycladus
Blanchard, 1847
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| Species: |
P. gayi
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| Binomial name | |
| Polycladus gayi Blanchard, 1847
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| Synonyms | |
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Geoplana gayi Schultze & Müller, 1857 |
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Polycladus is a genus of land planarians from South America, currently comprising a single species, Polycladus gayi, which occurs in the Valdivian Forest, Chile.
Description
Polycladus is a very understudied genus of land planarians. It was defined as land planarians with a wide, flat and leaf-like body, having the entire ventral surface ciliated and with mouth and gonopore posteriorly shifted in relation to other land planarians. The copulatory apparatus has a well-developed permanent penis and the female canal enters the genital antrum ventrally.[1] This definition, however, is incomplete regarding all anatomical structures currently considered in the definition of planarian genera.[2]
Etymology
The name Polycladus comes from Greek πολύ (many) + κλάδος (branch), referring to the branched intestine. Despite the name, Polycladus is not a species of the flatworm order Polycladida, but rather of Tricladida.
The specific epithet of the type-species, gayi, commemorates French naturalist Claude Gay.[3]
References
- ↑ Ogren, R. E. and Kawakatsu, M. (1990). Index to the species of the family Geoplanidae (Turbellaria, Tricladida, Terricola) Part I: Geoplaninae. Bulletin of Fujis Women's College. 29: 79-166.
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