Molecular phylogeny of (Platyhelminthes: Polycladida), with description of a new species from the Pacific coasts of Panama.

Mesopsammic polyclad members in the family Boniniidae have attracted attention in terms of their evolutionary shifts of microhabitat and their unique morphology such as a pair of pointed tentacles extending from the anterolateral margins and prostatoid organs harbouring stylets. Here, we establish a new species of this family as Boninia panamensis sp. nov.

Microfocus X-Ray Computed Tomography of (Platyhelminthes: Polycladida) with an Evaluation of Histological Sections After Scanning.

Microfocus X-ray computed tomography (micro-CT) is expected to be utilized in the taxonomy of macroturbellarians that require histological technique(s) for identification, allowing nondestructive observation of the internal structures of specimens in a short time. With micro-CT, we observed a polyclad flatworm, (Schmarda, 1859), in this study. In the CT images, the main reproductive organs in the polyclad specimen were well observed, but some diagnostic characters were unclear or undetectable.

Flatworm cocoons in the abyss: same plan under pressure.

While knowledge of early ontogeny in abyssal animals is highly limited in general, it was completely lacking for abyssal, free-living platyhelminths. We discovered flatworm egg capsules (or 'cocoons') on rocks collected at depths of 6176-6200 m on the abyssal slope of the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench, northwestern Pacific. The egg capsules were black and spherical, around 3 mm in diameter, and contained three to seven individuals ( = 4) at the same developmental stage, either the spherical (putative early embryo) or vermiform (putative late embryo) stages.

sp. nov., an Interstitial Polyclad Flatworm Showing a Wide Distribution along Japanese Coasts.

We establish a new interstitial polyclad species, sp. nov., based on specimens collected from coarse-sandy habitats in three Japanese main islands (Hokkaido, Honshu, and Shikoku) along the coasts of the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan.

Reversible shifts between interstitial and epibenthic habitats in evolutionary history: Molecular phylogeny of the marine flatworm family Boniniidae (Platyhelminthes: Polycladida: Cotylea) with descriptions of two new species.

Tiny animals in various metazoan phyla inhabit the interstices between sand and/or gravel grains, and adaptive traits in their body plan, such as simplification and size reduction, have attracted research attention. Several possible explanations of how such animals colonized interstitial habitats have been proposed, but their adaptation to this environment has generally been regarded as irreversible. However, the actual evolutionary transitions are not well understood in almost all taxa.

Descriptions of two new species of Armatoplana (Polycladida: Stylochoplanidae) from the coasts of Japan, with their phylogenetic positions in Leptoplanoidea.

We describe two new species of Armatoplana Faubel, 1983, namely, A. albomaculata sp. nov.

Description of a New Species of the Marine Flatworm (Platyhelminthes: Polycladida) and its Three Known Congeners from Misaki, Japan, with Inference of Their Phylogenetic Positions within Prosthiostomidae.

The present study provides morphological descriptions of four species of (Polycladida, Prosthiostomidae)- Kato, 1937; sp. n.; cf.

A giant new species of (Polycladida, Prosthiostomidae) from southwestern Japan.

We describe a new species of polyclad flatworm, , from the rocky subtidal zone in the East China Sea along the coasts of the Kyushu and Okinawa Islands, Japan. is characterized by i) the entire periphery of the dorsal surface narrowly fringed with orange, ii) a marginal-eyespot band extending to the position of the mouth (about anterior one-eighth of body), and iii) two prostatic vesicles covered by a common muscle sheath, which is penetrated by the ejaculatory duct. We performed a molecular phylogenetic analysis based on 945-bp 28S rDNA sequences of 16 species of Prosthiostomidae currently available in public databases in addition to those of and Tsuyuki et al.