''Matuxia'' is a genus 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 Brazil.

Description

The genus ''Matuxia'' is characterized by having a slender body with nearly parallel margins, reaching up to 12 cm in length, and being slightly convex on both dorsal and ventral sides. The eyes are arranged along the body margins, not occupying the dorsum. The copulatory apparatus has an apparent penis papilla, a structure similar to a true penis papilla, but having an ejaculatory cavity instead of an ejaculatory duct. The female cavity is rounded and filled with a multilayered

epithelium Epithelium or epithelial tissue is one of the four basic types of animal tissue, along with connective tissue, muscle tissue and nervous tissue. It is a thin, continuous, protective layer of compactly packed cells with a little intercellul ...

Etymology

''Matuxia'' is a portmanteau of the specific epithets of the two first species of the genus to be described, ''matuta'' and ''tuxaua'', and the first name of

Eudóxia Maria Froehlich Eudóxia Maria Froehlich (21 October 1928 – 26 September 2015) was a Brazilian zoologist. Life Born in 1928, Eudóxia Maria de Oliveira Pinto was the daughter of Alice Alves de Camargo and the ornithologist Olivério Mário de Oliveira Pinto. ...

, who described both ''M. matuta'' and ''M. tuxaua''.

Species

There are three species assigned to the genus ''Matuxia'': *'' Matuxia matuta'' (E. M. Froehlich, 1955) *'' Matuxia tuxaua'' (E. M. Froehlich, 1955) *'' Matuxia tymbyra'' Rossi & Leal-Zanchet, 2019

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q30590145 Geoplanidae Rhabditophora genera