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Free-living flatworms are mostly predators, and live in water or in shaded, humid terrestrial environments, such as leaf litter. Cestodes (tapeworms) and trematodes (flukes) have complex life-cycles, with mature stages that live as parasites in the digestive systems of fish or land vertebrates, and intermediate stages that infest secondary hosts.
Geoplanidae is a family of flatworms known commonly as land planarians or land flatworms. [ 2 ] These flatworms are mainly predators of other invertebrates, which they hunt, attack and capture using physical force and the adhesive and digestive properties of their mucus. [ 3 ]
Bipalium species are predatory.Some species prey on earthworms, while others may also feed on mollusks. [10] [11] These flatworms can track their prey. [12]When captured, earthworms begin to react to the attack, but the flatworm uses the muscles in its body, as well as sticky secretions, to attach itself to the earthworm to prevent escape.
The Turbellaria are one of the traditional sub-divisions of the phylum Platyhelminthes (flatworms), and include all the sub-groups that are not exclusively parasitic.There are about 4,500 species, which range from 1 mm (0.039 in) to large freshwater forms more than 500 mm (20 in) long [3] or terrestrial species like Bipalium kewense which can reach 600 mm (24 in) in length.
Cotyleans, on the other hand, with as many as 16 families, are prominent members of tropical coral reef communities and have bright, colorful bodies. Although cotylean flatworms are conspicuous predators in subtropical and tropical ecosystems, they are difficult to study. These worms are very fragile and when disturbed can break apart.
Bipalium kewense, also known as the shovel-headed garden worm, is a species of large predatory land planarian with a cosmopolitan distribution. [1] [2] It is sometimes referred to as a "hammerhead flatworm" due to its half-moon-shaped head, but this name is also used to refer to other species in the subfamily Bipaliinae.
Most adult individuals of B. adventitium are 5–8 cm (2.0–3.1 in) in length. The head is expanded and fan-shaped, being easily distinguishable from other common species of Bipalium, such as Bipalium kewense and Bipalium pennsylvanicum, because these have a head in the shape of a half moon. [1]
The New Zealand flatworm is an invasive species in Europe, feeding there almost exclusively on earthworms. [5] [6] This degrades soil quality. European earthworm predators are reluctant to eat it although cases of frogs and beetle larvae consuming flatworms have been recorded.