Caenoplana coerulea
| Blue planarian | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Platyhelminthes |
| Order: | Tricladida |
| Family: | Geoplanidae |
| Genus: | Caenoplana |
| Species: | C. coerulea
|
| Binomial name | |
| Caenoplana coerulea Moseley, 1877
| |
Caenoplana coerulea, known as the blue planarian or blue garden flatworm is a species of land planarian.
Description[edit]
This is a long narrow flatworm, which is shiny black or dark brown on the upper surface, and mid-blue underneath (hence the specific epithet and the common name of "blue planarian".) There is a narrow creamy/fawn or yellow coloured longitudinal stripe running down the center of the upper surface. Multiple eyespots are present. The head on some individuals has a pinkish appearance. The adult length is 6 to 12 cm.
Range[edit]
This flatworm's native range is eastern Australia and New Zealand. This species has however been accidentally introduced to the Balearic Islands,[1] Argentina,[2] Canary Islands,[3] France,[4] U.K (Portsmouth) and the USA (including California, Florida, Georgia, Texas, South Carolina and Iowa).[5]
Habitat[edit]
It is found in moist forest areas, and during drier periods it shelters under rocks, rotting logs and in leaf litter. It is often seen after periods of heavy rain.
Life habits[edit]
This planarian is a predator of a variety of invertebrates on the forest floor. It is known to feed on several arthropod groups, such as woodlice, millipedes and earwigs, as well as on land snails.[2]
Molecular characterisation[edit]
The complete mitogenome of Caenoplana coerulea is 18,621 bp in length.[6] Its main characteristic is a cytochrome c oxidase subunit 2 gene of unusual length, with a cox2 encoded protein 505 aa in length (compared to about 250 aa in other geoplanids); this characteristic of a very long cox2 is also found in other members of the subfamily Rhynchodeminae, to which Caenoplana coerulea belongs.[6]
Gallery[edit]
Showing color variation and more detail
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Caenoplana coerulea -
Caenoplana coerulea -
Caenoplana coerulea -
Caenoplana coerulea upturned
References[edit]
- ^ Breugelmans, Karin; Quintana Cardona, Josep; Artois, Tom; Jordaens, Kurt; Backeljau, Thierry (2012). "First report of the exotic blue land planarian, Caenoplana coerulea (Platyhelminthes, Geoplanidae), on Menorca (Balearic Islands, Spain)". ZooKeys (199): 91–105. doi:10.3897/zookeys.199.3215. ISSN 1313-2970. PMC 3368283. PMID 22711997.
- ^ a b Luis-Negrete, Lisandro; Brusa, Francissco; Winsor, Leigh (2011). "La planaria terrestre azul Caenoplana coerulea, un invasor en Argentina". Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad. 82: 287–291. doi:10.22201/ib.20078706e.2011.1.450. hdl:11336/105440.
- ^ Suárez, Daniel; Martín, Sonia; Naranjo, Manuel (2018). "First report of the invasive alien species Caenoplana coerulea Moseley, 1877 (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Geoplanidae) in the subterranean environment of the Canary Islands". Subterranean Biology. 26: 67–74. doi:10.3897/subtbiol.26.25921. hdl:10261/197485. ISSN 1314-2615.
- ^ Justine, Jean-Lou; Thévenot, Jessica; Winsor, Leigh (2014). "Les sept plathelminthes invasifs introduits en France". Phytoma (in French). 674: 28–32. doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.1447202.
- ^ Ogren, R. E. 2001. The Blue Planarian: A New Locality
- ^ a b Gastineau, Romain; Lemieux, Claude; Turmel, Monique; Otis, Christian; Boyle, Brian; Coulis, Mathieu; Gouraud, Clément; Boag, Brian; Murchie, Archie K.; Winsor, Leigh; Justine, Jean-Lou (2024-04-03). "The invasive land flatworm Arthurdendyus triangulatus has repeated sequences in the mitogenome, extra-long cox2 gene and paralogous nuclear rRNA clusters". Scientific Reports. 14 (1). doi:10.1038/s41598-024-58600-y. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 10991399. PMID 38570596.
