Dugesia
Dugesia japonica with praziquantel evoked two heads (Nogi et al, 2009)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Subkingdom:	Eumetazoa
Superphylum:	Platyzoa
Phylum:	Platyhelminthes
Class:	Turbellaria
Order:	Tricladida
Suborder:	Continenticola Carranza et al., 1998[1]
Family:	Dugesiidae
Genus:	Dugesia
Species
Dugesia benazzii Dugesia dorotocephala Dugesia etrusca Dugesia gonocephala Dugesia hepta Dugesia japonica Dugesia ryukyuensis Dugesia sicula Dugesia subtentaculata

Dugesia is a genus of flatworms containing some common representatives of the class Turbellaria. These common flatworms can be found in freshwater habitats. Their digestion tract consists of a central tubular pharynx. Each branch consists of ceca, which delivers the nutrients to the body. This worm has a sac digestive plan, that is, it does not have a separate opening for waste excretion. (Gilbertson, 1999).

Planarians have ocelli (eye spots) that detect the amount of light in the nearby environment, and auricles (ear-like flaps) that detect the intensity of water current. They are hermaphrodites, and some of them reproduce by parthenogenesis^[2].

One relatively well-known species is called Dugesia lugubris.

[edit] References

1. ^ Carranza, S, Littlewood DT, Clough KA, Ruiz-Trillo I, Baguñà J, Riutort M. 1998. "A robust molecular phylogeny of the Tricladida (Platyhelminthes: Seriata) with a discussion on morphological synapomorphies". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 265(1396):631-640.
2. ^ Benazzi Lentati, G. (1966). Amphimixis and pseudogamy in fresh-water triclads: Experimental reconstitution of polyploid pseudogamic biotypes. Chromosoma. 20: 1–14.

• Gilbertson, Lance; Zoology Lab Manual; McGraw Hill Companies, New York; ISBN 0-07-237716-X (fourth edition, 1999)

• Nogi T, Zhang D, Chan JD and Marchant JS. (2009) A Novel Biological Activity of Praziquantel Requiring Voltage-Operated Ca2+ Channel β Subunits: Subversion of Flatworm Regenerative Polarity. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 3(6): e464.
• nik harris

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