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Caenoplana coerulea

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(Redirected from Blue Planarian)

Blue planarian
Scientific classification Edit this 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

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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

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This flatworm is native to Eastern Australia, however it has been accidentally introduced to New Zealand,[1] the Balearic Islands,[2] Argentina,[3] Canary Islands,[4] France,[5] U.K (Portsmouth) and the USA (including California, Florida, Georgia, Texas, South Carolina and Iowa).[6]

Habitat

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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

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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.[3]

Molecular characterisation

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The complete mitogenome of Caenoplana coerulea is 18,621 bp in length.[7] 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.[7]

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Showing color variation and more detail

References

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  1. ^ Winsor, Leigh (September 1998). "The Australian terrestrial flatworm fauna (Tricladida: Terricola)". Pedobiologia. 42 (5–6): 457–463. Bibcode:1998Pedob..42..457W. doi:10.1016/S0031-4056(24)00467-0.
  2. ^ 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. Bibcode:2012ZooK..199...91B. doi:10.3897/zookeys.199.3215. ISSN 1313-2970. PMC 3368283. PMID 22711997.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ 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. Open access icon
  6. ^ Ogren, R. E. 2001. The Blue Planarian: A New Locality
  7. ^ 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): 7840. Bibcode:2024NatSR..14.7840G. doi:10.1038/s41598-024-58600-y. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 10991399. PMID 38570596. Open access icon