Polycladus

Polycladus is a genus of land planarians from South America, currently comprising a single species, Polycladus gayi, which occurs in the Valdivian Forest, Chile.

Polycladus
Polycladus gayi
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Platyhelminthes
Order:	Tricladida
Family:	Geoplanidae
Genus:	Polycladus
Species:	P. gayi
Binomial name
Polycladus gayi Blanchard, 1847
Synonyms
Geoplana gayi Schultze & Müller, 1857

Description

Polycladus is a very understudied genus of land planarians. It was defined as land planarians with a wide, flat and leaf-like body, having the entire ventral surface ciliated and with mouth and gonopore posteriorly shifted in relation to other land planarians. The copulatory apparatus has a well-developed permanent penis and the female canal enters the genital antrum ventrally.^[1] This definition, however, is incomplete regarding all anatomical structures currently considered in the definition of planarian genera.^[2]

In 2023, Polycladus was discovered preying on a black snail, Macrocyclis peruvianus, in the wild.^[3]

Etymology

The name Polycladus comes from Greek πολύ (many) + κλάδος (branch), referring to the branched intestine. Despite the name, Polycladus is not a species of the flatworm order Polycladida, but rather of Tricladida.

The specific epithet of the type-species, gayi, commemorates French naturalist Claude Gay.^[4]