A new land planarian species of Geoplana (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Geoplanidae) from the Valdivian temperate rainforest of southern Chile

A new species, Geoplana valdiviana sp. n. (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida), from southern Chile is described. The species is characterized by having the cutaneous musculature ventrally reaching up to the central nervous system, the parenchymal muscle layers gathered in bundles, a penis papilla with the dorsal insertion anterior to the ventral insertion, shell glands opening only into the common glandular duct, and oviducts greatly widened in their ascending portion. The two former features are also present in Geoplana chanca and Pasipha ercilla, and might be an evidence of close phylogenetic relationship between them. (© 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)