Continenticola
From upper left: Dugesia subtentaculata, a dugesiid; Dendrocoelum cavaticum, a Dendrocoelidae; Platydemus manokwari, a Geoplanidae; and Polycelis felina, a Planariidae.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Platyhelminthes
Order: Tricladida
Suborder: Continenticola
Carranza et al., 1998[1]
Superfamilies and families[2]

Continenticola is a clade that includes the land planarians (Geoplanidae) and the freshwater triclads (Dendrocoelidae, Dugesiidae, Kenkiidae and Planariidae).

Phylogeny

On the basis of molecular evidences, Carranza and colleagues suggested in 1998 that the families of freshwater and land flatworms must be grouped together in a monophyletic group that they coined Continenticola. This grouping was accepted by Ronald Sluys in 2009. Despite the molecular evidences, there are no morphological apomorphies supporting this clade.[2]

Phylogenetic supertree after Sluys et al., 2009:[2]

Tricladida

Maricola

Cavernicola

Continenticola
Planarioidea

Planariidae

Kenkiidae

Dendrocoelidae

Geoplanoidea

Dugesiidae

Geoplanidae

References

  1. ^ Carranza, S.; Littlewood, D. T.; Clough, K. A.; 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. doi:10.1098/rspb.1998.0341. PMC 1689013. PMID 9881470.
  2. ^ a b c Sluys, R.; Kawakatsu, M.; Riutort, M.; Baguñà, J. (2009). "A new higher classification of planarian flatworms (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida)". Journal of Natural History. 43 (29–30): 1763–1777. doi:10.1080/00222930902741669.
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