Geoplana apua is a species of land planarian belonging to the subfamily Geoplaninae. It is found in areas within the Atlantic Forest in the municipalities of Nova Iguaçu and Teresópolis, Brazil.
Description Geoplana apua is a flatworm around 45 mm in length. The body has parallel margins; the front tip is rounded and the back tip is pointed. The dorsal side has a luminous orange band running down the middle, flanked on each side by a black stripe; the black stripe is bordered on the outside by a greenish-yellow stripe, which is bordered by a black band. The ventral side is a pale orange color.Ana Laura Almeida and others, ‘Endless forms most beautiful’: taxonomic revision of the planarian Geoplana vaginuloides (Darwin, 1844) and discovery of numerous congeners (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, Volume 185, Issue 1, January 2019, Pages 1–65.
Aside from its coloration, it is distinguished from other members of Geoplana by having two-layered musculature of the inner pharynx, a developed anteroventral region of the penis bulb, and a penis papilla with the dorsal insertion displaced anteriorly and very ventrally, as long as 18 times its diameter.
Etymology The specific epithet, apua, is derived from a Tupi language word meaning "mound", in reference to the hills where type specimens were collected.
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