''Schmidtea'' is a genus of freshwater

triclad Planarians (triclads) are free-living flatworms of the class Turbellaria, order Tricladida, which includes hundreds of species, found in freshwater, marine, and terrestrial habitats.pp 3., "Planarians (the popular name for the group as a whole ...

s. Species of the genus ''Schmidtea'' are widely used in

regeneration Regeneration may refer to: Science and technology * Regeneration (biology), the ability to recreate lost or damaged cells, tissues, organs and limbs * Regeneration (ecology), the ability of ecosystems to regenerate biomass, using photosynthesis ...

and

developmental Development of the human body is the process of growth to maturity. The process begins with fertilization, where an egg released from the ovary of a female is penetrated by a sperm cell from a male. The resulting zygote develops through mitosis ...

studies. Until 1991, ''Schmidtea'' was considered as a subgenus of ''

Dugesia ''Dugesia'' is a genus of freshwater planarians in the family Dugesiidae triclads and the type genus of this family. These common flatworms are found in freshwater habitats of Africa, Eurasia, and Australia. ''Dugesia'' is best known to non-spe ...

'', then it was elevated to the genus rank.

Etymology

The genus was presumably named after

Eduard Oscar Schmidt Eduard Oscar Schmidt (21 February 1823, in Torgau – 17 January 1886, in Kappelrodeck) was a German zoologist and phycology, phycologist. Biography He initially studied mathematics and science at University of Halle, Halle, then continued his ...

, who described two species within the genus.

Phylogeny

Phylogenetic tree including five dugesiid genera after Álvarez-Presas et al., 2008:

References

Dugesiidae {{flatworm-stub