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land planarian

Geoplanidae

Photo by Dan Doucette
Published on Project Noah
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0.98872, -76.6296

Field Notes

Description:

bizarre wormlike creature, about 6 in, black, very slimy, a hammerhead worm without the hammerhead

Habitat:

tropical rainforest, amazon

Notes:

I spotted this at the base of the Fin del Mundo falls. I've never seen anything quite like this.

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (5)

I loved the hammerhead worms when I was a kid! How many 6-7 year olds do you know that know what a planarian is?
Oh bananas, this one made me a bit sick lol
Thanks drP, that helps a lot. Good to know that they don't all have hammerheads. I've ID'd this just to the family for now.
I believe you are correct that it is essentially a hammerhead worm without the hammerhead. Several of the land planarian spottings here lack a hammerhead, and new species are being discovered regularly. A species discovered in Peru in 2010 has a pointed head similar to yours (although it otherwise looks very different from your spotting): http://www.academia.edu/3256688/A_new_Peruvian_land_planarian_species_of_the_genus_Gigantea_Platyhelminthes_Tricladida_Geoplanidae_ Hope this helps.

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