Three new flatworm species discovered in Brazil

This video says about itself:

Huge flatworm (Platyhelminthes) on the move

16 August 2009

We discovered this flatworm on one of our nightly walks in the jungle of Itatiaia National Park in Brazil.

From Phys.org:

Hidden diversity: 3 new species of land flatworms from the Brazilian Araucaria forest

January 9, 2017

A huge invertebrate diversity is hidden on the forest floor in areas of the Araucaria moist forest, Brazil. Land flatworms constitute a numerous group among these invertebrates occurring in the Neotropical region. Flatworms are considered to be top predators within the soil ecosystem, preying on other invertebrates.

The Araucaria moist forest is part of the Brazilian Atlantic Rain Forest and is considered a hotspot of land flatworm diversity, harboring many yet undescribed species. A study recently published in the open access journal ZooKeys describes three new species from areas covered by Araucaria moist forest in South Brazil, which belong to the Neotropical genus Cratera.

Land flatworms lack a water retention mechanism and have a low tolerance to intense changes in temperature and humidity. Their low vagility leads to the existence of a high number of endemic species. Thus, they are considered good bioindicators of the degree of impact on their habitat.

The new species are named after characteristics of their color pattern and are probably endemic for the study areas. Besides differing from each other, as well as from other species of the genus, by their characteristic color pattern, they also show other distinguishing features in the reproductive system. The study provides an identification key to the species of the genus.

The work was conducted by the south Brazilian research group on triclads, led by Dr. Ana Leal-Zanchet, of the Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS), in southern Brazil. The study was supported by the Brazilian Research Council (CNPq).

Flatworms in the Netherlands: here.

Flatworms that spent five weeks aboard the International Space Station are helping researchers scientists study how an absence of normal gravity and geomagnetic fields can have anatomical, behavioral, and bacteriological consequences, according to a paper. The research has implications for human and animal space travelers and for regenerative and bioengineering science: here.

Giant invasive flatworms found in France and overseas French territories. Citizen science reveals the presence of five species of hammerhead flatworms, two of which are 40 cm long and two are possible new species: here.

Scientists report that electrical activity is the first known step in the tissue-regeneration process of planarian flatworms, starting before the earliest known genetic machinery kicks in and setting off the downstream activities of gene transcription needed to construct new heads or tails: here.