''Choeradoplana minima'' is a species of

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 ...

belonging to 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 ...

. It is found in areas of Atlantic Forest within

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, such as São Francisco de Paula.

Description

''Choeradoplana minima'' is a flatworm that can reach up to 34 mm in length. It has an elongate body with parallel margins. The anterior tip is obtuse and has a pair of brownish glandular cushions on the ventral side; the posterior tip is pointed. The dorsal side of the body has a pale yellow base color, which is visible on the margins of the body; the rest of the dorsal side has two wide, dark brown paramedian stripes, with the pale yellow base visible in-between in the median region. The ventral side is a yellowish color that lightens to a whitish shade in the head region.Lemos V. S., Cauduro G. P., Valiati V. H., Leal-Zanchet A. M. (2014) Phylogenetic relationships within the flatworm genus ''Choeradoplana'' Graff (Platyhelminthes : Tricladida) inferred from molecular data with the description of two new sympatric species from ''Araucaria'' moist forests. ''Invertebrate Systematics'' 28, 605-627. It is distinguished from other members of ''Choeradoplana'' by its two dark brown stripes, the frontmost testes being posterior to the ovaries and the posteriormost testes being near the root of the

pharynx The pharynx (: pharynges) is the part of the throat behind the human mouth, mouth and nasal cavity, and above the esophagus and trachea (the tubes going down to the stomach and the lungs respectively). It is found in vertebrates and invertebrates ...

, a short ejaculatory cavity with a folded wall and a sinuous lumen, an inverted penis with a strong bulbar musculature, a well developed muscularis and two main regions, a short male atrium occupied by the tip of the inverted penis, ovovitelline ducts that emerge laterally from the mid-third of the ovaries and ascend behind the

gonopore A gonopore, sometimes called a gonadopore, is a genital pore in many invertebrates. Hexapods, including insects, have a single common gonopore, except mayflies, which have a pair of gonopores. More specifically, in the unmodified female, it is ...

, and male and female atria that have independent musculatures and wide communication at the

sagittal plane The sagittal plane (; also known as the longitudinal plane) is an anatomical plane that divides the body into right and left sections. It is perpendicular to the transverse and coronal planes. The plane may be in the center of the body and divi ...

Etymology

The specific epithet, presumably taken from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

("small, little"), was given in reference to the short length of mature members of the species.

References

Geoplanidae Animals described in 2014 Fauna of the Atlantic Forest Platyhelminthes of Brazil {{Flatworm-stub