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After gripping the food, a homolateral turn is followed to bring the anterior portion of the body in association with the food. [1] This way, the food can pass through the anterior margin to the mouth for the flatworm to digest the prey. [1] Compared to a decerebrate flatworm versus the normal flatworm there are different feeding behaviors.
Sandcastle worms should not be confused with the similar, but more northern Sabellaria cementarium which are found from Alaska to southern California and have an amber-colored operculum. [4] Unlike P. californica, S. cementarium rarely forms colonies, does not settle gregariously, and its larvae do not respond to free fatty acids. [7]
The parasites, which can cause intestinal and eye problems, are now widespread in a nonnative snail in area lakes and reservoirs. The snails are also spreading across the U.S.
A parasite that sickened 10 dogs and killed another in Southern California was found in the Colorado River in Blythe, its first known presence in the state.
Bipalium kewense has been found commonly in American greenhouses since 1901. [23] This species is a voracious predator of earthworms, and has been identified as a nuisance in the southern USA in earthworm-rearing beds. [24] Control of the species is difficult due to the lack of predators. As noted by the University of Florida IFAS department,
Planarians (triclads) are free-living flatworms of the class Turbellaria, [2] [3] order Tricladida, [4] which includes hundreds of species, found in freshwater, marine, and terrestrial habitats. [5] Planarians are characterized by a three-branched intestine, including a single anterior and two posterior branches. [ 5 ]
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 ]