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Project Noah Nature School
Fletchamia sugdeni
A thin pale yellow worm with a subcylindrical body about 100 mm long. The pointy head end was a deep pink colour. Dark specks were seen on the inferior aspect of the head.
Spotted on the trunk of a fern tree (Dicksonia) in a national park - Tarra-bulga NP, a moist temperate rain forest.
These are seen in Victoria and Tasmania in Australia.
These flatworms are carnivorous living on small invertebrates like insects and earthworms. Some are scavengers. They have an eversible muscular pharynx that produce glandular secretion that digests the prey externally. The dissolved food is then ingested.
The worm moves by gliding in mucous produced by the action of cilia found along the ventral side of the body.
Family:Geoplanidae
Spotted on Jan 18, 2021
Submitted on Jan 19, 2021
8 Comments
Well, you will know what it is the next time you see it and some of us have learnt that we have the species in S.Australia as well. Thanks.
Unfortunately I didn't have my phone on me at the time
Did you take a photo of it Matt56 ?
Spotted one of these yesterday in our front garden (Greenwith, SA). Never seen anything like it before.
Definitely paler and less interesting than the one in your spotting. I am fascinated by these on land and in sea-one of my favourite creatures.
Ah, I see you posted a similarly colored flatworm a few months ago. I found them here nearly every night during 2013-14 and haven't seen one since. I miss them. Interesting to watch them slime their way through the undergrowth.
Flatworms are cool. This is a little pale compared to some https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/59... but still interesting. Good catch Leuba, thanks for sharing.
Found one at last !! Well done.