Cratera (genus)

Cratera
Cratera pseudovaginuloides
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Platyhelminthes
Class: Rhabditophora
Order: Tricladida
Suborder: Continenticola
Family: Geoplanidae
Subfamily: Geoplaninae
Genus: Cratera
Carbayo et al., 2013
Type species
Geoplana pseudovaginuloides
Riester, 1938

Cratera is a genus of land planarians from South America.

Description

Sagittal view of the copulatory apparatus of Cratera viridimaculata showing the expanded cavity at the final portion of the ejaculatory duct (ej) in the penis papilla (pp).

The genus Cratera is characterized by having a leaf-shaped body. Most species are between 3 and 7 cm long. The hundreds of eyes distributed along the body are monolobulated, i.e., simple and circular. The copulatory apparatus has a permanent conical penis occupying the entire male cavity. The final portion of the ejaculatory duct, the channel that guides sperm through the penis, has an expanded cavity that resembles a volcanic crater. It is very similar to the related genus Obama, the main difference being the presence of trilobulated eyes in the latter.[1]

Etymology

The name Cratera is derived from the Latin word crater and refers to the cavity in the penis that resembles a volcanic crater.

Species

There are 13 species assigned to the genus Cratera:

References

  1. Carbayo, F.; Álvarez-Presas, M.; Olivares, C. U. T.; Marques, F. P. L.; Froehlich, E. X. M.; Riutort, M. (2013). "Molecular phylogeny of Geoplaninae (Platyhelminthes) challenges current classification: Proposal of taxonomic actions". Zoologica Scripta. 42 (5): 508–528. doi:10.1111/zsc.12019.
  2. 1 2 3 Rossi, Ilana; Leal-Zanchet, Ana (2017). "Three new species of Cratera Carbayo et al., 2013 from Araucaria forests with a key to species of the genus (Platyhelminthes, Continenticola)". ZooKeys. 643: 1–32. ISSN 1313-2970. doi:10.3897/zookeys.643.11093.
  3. Negrete, Lisandro; Brusa, Francisco (2016). "First report of the genus Cratera (Platyhelminthes, Geoplanidae) in Argentina, with description of a new species and comments on the species of the genus". ZooKeys. 610: 1–12. ISSN 1313-2970. PMC 4992809Freely accessible. PMID 27587974. doi:10.3897/zookeys.610.9465.
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