land planarian

Geoplanidae

Description:

bizarre wormlike creature, about 6 in, black, very slimy, a hammerhead worm without the hammerhead

Habitat:

tropical rainforest, amazon

Notes:

I spotted this at the base of the Fin del Mundo falls. I've never seen anything quite like this.

Species ID Suggestions

5 Comments

Dan Doucette 10 years ago

Thanks. I'm going to guess not too many.

KarenSaxton 10 years ago

I loved the hammerhead worms when I was a kid! How many 6-7 year olds do you know that know what a planarian is?

Tiz 10 years ago

Oh bananas, this one made me a bit sick lol

Dan Doucette 10 years ago

Thanks drP, that helps a lot. Good to know that they don't all have hammerheads. I've ID'd this just to the family for now.

drP 10 years ago

I believe you are correct that it is essentially a hammerhead worm without the hammerhead. Several of the land planarian spottings here lack a hammerhead, and new species are being discovered regularly. A species discovered in Peru in 2010 has a pointed head similar to yours (although it otherwise looks very different from your spotting): http://www.academia.edu/3256688/A_new_Pe...
Hope this helps.