''Amaga expatria'' is a large

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

land planarian Geoplanidae is a family of flatworms known commonly as land planarians or land flatworms. These flatworms are mainly predators of other invertebrates, which they hunt, attack and capture using physical force and the adhesive and digestive proper ...

in the subfamily

Geoplaninae Geoplaninae is a subfamily of land planarians endemic to the Neotropical region. Members of this family are sometimes referred to as the Neotropical land planarians. However, one species, '' Obama nungara'' has been introduced in Europe. Descri ...

Description

''Amaga expatria'' is a large species, reaching 132 mm in length and 9 mm in width in extended state. The dorsal colour is mid-brown with a dark brown anterior tip, with two narrow dark blue lines dorsally along the anterior third. It looks a bit like, in colour and shape, "a banana cut lengthwise".

Etymology

According to the authors of the taxon, the

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

"is based on ''ex patria'' = expatriate, meaning away from one’s native country, recognising that this worm, like much of the present biota of Bermuda including humans, originated elsewhere."

Distribution

''Amaga expatria'' has been found in the

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

and in two islands of the Caribbean,

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

and

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

. The species is abundant in Guadeloupe and Martinique.

Ecology

As other land flatworms, this animal is a predator of other small animals. The prey of ''Amaga expatria'' include molluscs and earthworms.

Molecular information

The complete mitogenome of ''Amaga expatria'' was described in 2020. It is 14,962 bp in length and contains 12 protein coding genes, two rRNA genes and 22 tRNA genes.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2224502 Geoplanidae Fauna of Bermuda Fauna of Martinique Fauna of Guadeloupe Animals described in 2020