Microplaninae

Microplaninae is a subfamily of land planarians.^[1]

Microplaninae
Microplana sp.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Platyhelminthes
Order:	Tricladida
Family:	Geoplanidae
Subfamily:	Microplaninae Pantin, 1953
Genera
See text

Description

The subfamily Microplaninae was defined by Ogren and Kawakatsu (1988)^[2] for land planarians with a short and cylindroid form, an anterior end that is blunt, eyes often small and subepithelial musculature weak. The male copulatory apparatus is often complicated and has a well-developed penis. The female apparatus is very variable, with or without a seminal bursa and with or without a connection with the intestine.

It was originally considered, based on morphological evidence, to be the sister group of the subfamily Rhynchodeminae.^[2] However, recent phylogenetic analyses indicated that both subfamilies are not closely related.^[3]

Genera

Eight genera of Microplaninae are known:^[1]

• Diporodemus Hyman, 1938
• Geobenazzia Minelli, 1974
• Incapora Du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1953
• Microplana Vejdowsky, 1890
• Othelosoma Grey, 1869
• Pseudartiocotylus Ikeda, 1911
• Statomicroplana Kawakatsu, Froehlich, Jones, Ogren & Sasaki, 2003

Phylogeny

Phylogenetic tree including the land planarian subfamilies after Álvarez-Presas et al., 2008.^[3] Note that Spathula and Romankenkius belong to the Dugesiidae family:

Geoplanoidea	Dugesiidae Geoplanidae Bipaliinae Geoplaninae Caenoplaninae Rhynchodeminae Microplaninae (Spathula + Romankenkius)