''Gigantea'' is a
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
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 ...
s from the
Neotropical realm
The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropics, tropical Ecoregion#Terrestrial, terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperat ...
.
Description
Species of ''Gigantea'' have a large, broad and flat body. The copulatory apparatus has a
permanent penis and the
ovovitelline ducts enter the female atrium from below.
This definition, however, is incomplete regarding the anatomical features currently considered in the definition of planarian genera and ''Gigantea'' is certainly a heterogeneous genus.
Etymology
The name ''Gigantea'' (
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 ...
for "giant") comes from the specific epithet, ''gigantea'', of the type-species, originally described as ''Geoplana gigantea'' due to its large size.
Species
Currently, there are 14 species assigned to the genus ''Gigantea'':
*''
Gigantea bistriata''
*''
Gigantea cameliae''
*''
Gigantea chiriquii''
*''
Gigantea gigantea''
*''
Gigantea gouvernoni''
*''
Gigantea idaia''
*''
Gigantea maupoi''
*''
Gigantea montana''
*''
Gigantea picadoi''
*''
Gigantea ronaldsluysi ''
*''
Gigantea sandersoni''
*''
Gigantea unicolor''
*''
Gigantea urubambensis''
*''
Gigantea vongunteni''
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q18580002
Geoplanidae
Rhabditophora genera