Geoplana is a genus of land planarians from South America.
Taxonomic history The genus Geoplana was erected in 1857 by William Stimpson and included most land planarians with several eyes distributed along the body.Stimpson, W. (1857). Prodromus descriptionis animalium evertebratorum quæ in Expeditione ad Oceanum, Pacificum Septentrionalem a Republica Federata missa, Johanne Rodgers Duce, observavit er descripsit. Pars I. Turbellaria Dendrocœla. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 9:19-31. Species with only two eyes were placed in the genus Rhynchodemus, while species with a crescent-shaped head were placed in Bipalium.
In the same year, apparently unaware of Stimpson's paper, the naturalist Max Schultze, based on published information and new species collected in Brazil by the naturalist Fritz Müller, also erected a genus named Geoplana, but included all land planarians in it.Schultze, M. and Müller, F. (1857). Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Landplanarien. Abhandlungen der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft zu Halle. 4:61-74. However, Stimpson's system prevailed.
During most of the 20th century, many new land planarian species, mostly from Australia and South America, were placed in Geoplana. In 1955, Eudóxia Maria Froehlich defined that Geoplana vaginuloides would be the type-species of Geoplana, as it was the first species listed by Stimpson.Froehlich, E. M. (1955). Sobre Espécies Brasileiras do Gênero Geoplana. Boletim da Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras da Universidade de São Paulo, Série Zoologia. 19:289-339.
In 1990, Robert E. Ogren and Masaharu Kawakatsu published a review of the classification of land planarians and divided Geoplana in four genera: Geoplana, Gigantea, Notogynaphallia and Pasipha. Geoplana retained all species with dorsal testes, a protrusible penis and a female canal entering the genital antrum dorsally. Species with ventral testes, without a protrusible penis or with a female canal entering the genital antrum ventrally were placed in other genera.Ogren, R. E. and Kawakatsu, M. (1990). Index to the species of the family Geoplanidae (Turbellaria, Tricladida, Terricola) Part I: Geoplaninae. Bulletin of Fujis Women's College. 29: 79-166.
During the 21st century, molecular studies revealed that Geoplana sensu Ogren & Kawakatsu was still heterogeneous. A study published in 2013 by Carbayo et al., based on molecular data, divided Geoplana in 6 genera: Geoplana, Barreirana, Cratera, Matuxia, Obama, and Paraba. Only three species remained as Geoplana, along with several incertae sedis. By a revision of the three valid species, the number increased to thirteen, mostly by the discovery that the type-species, Geoplana vaginuloides was a complex of species.
Current description Currently, the genus Geoplana is characterized by having the features described by Ogren & Kawatasu (dorsal testes, a protrusible penis and a female canal entering the genital antrum dorsally) plus several others, such as a slender body with nearly parallel margins, a strongly convex dorsum, monolobulated eyes (i.e., simple and circular, with only one lobe), a strong muscle tube around the intestine, a very long and muscular penis papilla, and the lack of a prostatic vesicle.
Species There are currently only thirteen species certainly belonging to Geoplana:
Geoplana apua Almeida & Carbayo, 2018 Geoplana boraceia Almeida & Carbayo, 2018 Geoplana cambara Almeida & Carbayo, 2018 Geoplana cananeia Almeida & Carbayo, 2018 Geoplana caraguatatuba Almeida & Carbayo, 2018 Geoplana chita Froehlich, 1956 Geoplana ibiuna Almeida & Carbayo, 2018 Geoplana iporanga Almeida & Carbayo, 2018 Geoplana mogi Almeida & Carbayo, 2018 Geoplana paranapiacaba Almeida & Carbayo, 2018 Geoplana piratininga Almeida & Carbayo, 2018 Geoplana pulchella Schultze & Müller, 1857 Geoplana vaginuloides (Darwin, 1844)
Also, there are several species currently considered incertae sedis:
Geoplana alterfusca Hyman, 1962 Geoplana arkalabamensis Ogren & Darlington, 1991 Geoplana aymara du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1951 Geoplana beckeri Froehlich, 1959 Geoplana bimbergi Fuhrmann, 1914 Geoplana caleta E. M. Froehlich 1978 Geoplana cantuta du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1951 Geoplana caucaensis Fuhrmann, 1914 Geoplana caya du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1951 Geoplana chalona du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1951 Geoplana chilihua du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1951 Geoplana chiuna E. M. Froehlich, 1955b Geoplana chulpa du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1951 Geoplana crawfordi de Beauchamp, 1939 Geoplana excellentissima Negrete, Brusa & Damborenea, 2012 Geoplana fragai Froehlich, 1955b Geoplana fuhrmanni Hyman, 1962 Geoplana gabriellae du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1951 Geoplana goetschi Riester, 1938 Geoplana guacensis Fuhrmann, 1914 Geoplana irua du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1958 Geoplana jandira Froehlich, 1955c Geoplana lama du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1957 Geoplana lambaya du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1958 Geoplana lareta du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1958 Geoplana mayori Fuhrmann, 1914 Geoplana mirim E. M. Froehlich, 1972 Geoplana mixopulla Ogren & Kawakatsu, 1990 Geoplana multipunctata Fuhrmann, 1914 Geoplana pavani Marcus, 1951 Geoplana pichuna du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1951 Geoplana picta Froehlich, 1956a Geoplana placilla E. M. Froehlich, 1978 Geoplana quagga Marcus, 1951 Geoplana quenua du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1958 Geoplana quichua Marcus, 1951 Geoplana regia E. M. Froehlich, 1955b Geoplana saima du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1951 Geoplana shapra du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1957 Geoplana takia du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1951 Geoplana talpa du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1951 Geoplana tamboensis Fuhrmann, 1914 Geoplana toriba Froehlich, 1958 Geoplana ubaquensis Fuhrmann, 1914 Geoplana vicuna du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1957
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