''Paraparaba franciscana'' is a

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 ...

found in Brazil.

Description

''Paraba franciscana'' is a medium-sized land planarian with an elongated body reaching up to in length and in width while crawling. The dorsal surface has a homogeneously dark-grey to black color with a white median longitudinal stripe of about 8 to 12% of the body width. The ventral side is white to light-grey, usually with a median longitudinal light-grey stripe. The numerous eyes are distributed in a single row along the body margins in the first millimetres and posteriorly spread to the dorsum, usually occupying up to 30% of the body width on each side, but some eyes can be close to the median line.

Etymology

The specific epithet ''franciscana'' makes references to the municipality of São Francisco de Paula, where the species was first found.

Distribution

''Paraparaba franciscana'' is known from areas covered by

Araucaria moist forest The Araucaria moist forests, officially classified as mixed ombrophilous forest (Portuguese: "Floresta Ombrófila Mista") in Brazil, are a montane subtropical moist forest ecoregion. The forest ecosystem is located in southern and in few areas of ...

in northeast

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 ...

, southern Brazil. It occurs in the

São Francisco de Paula National Forest SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Serb Autonomous Regions (''Srpska autonomna oblast'', SAO), during the breakup of Y ...

and in the

Aparados da Serra National Park The Aparados da Serra National Park () is a National park (Brazil), national park located in the Serra Geral range of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina states in the Southern Region, Brazil, south of Brazil, between 29º ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q25095708 Geoplanidae Platyhelminthes of Brazil