Imbira Explained

Imbira is a genus of land planarians found in South America.

Description

The genus Imibira is characterized by having a large, slender and flat body with parallel margins, reaching up to 14 cm in length. The eyes are arranged along the body margins, not occupying the dorsum. In comparison to other genera, the body has an additional layer of longitudinal muscles dorsally and ventrally to the intestine. The copulatory apparatus lacks a permanent penis, i. e., the penis is formed during copulation by folds in the male cavity. The female cavity is rounded and filled with a multilayered epithelium.^[1]

Etymology

Imbira is a word in the Tupi language that refers to a strip of bark peeled off from certain trees.

Species

There are four species assigned to the genus Imbira:^{[2] [3]}

• Imbira flavonigra Amaral & Leal-Zanchet, 2018
• Imbira guaiana (Leal-Zanchet & Carbayo, 2001)
• Imbira marcusi Carbayo et al., 2013
• Imbira negrita Negrete & Brusa, 2017

Notes and References

1. 10.1111/zsc.12019. Molecular phylogeny of Geoplaninae (Platyhelminthes) challenges current classification: Proposal of taxonomic actions. Zoologica Scripta. 42. 5. 508. 2013. Carbayo . F. . Álvarez-Presas . M. . Olivares . C. U. T. . Marques . F. P. L. . Froehlich . E. X. M. . Riutort . M. .
2. Negrete . Lisandro . Brusa . Francisco . Increasing diversity of land planarians (Platyhelminthes: Geoplanidae) in the Interior Atlantic Forest with the description of two new species and new records from Argentina . Zootaxa . 4362 . 1 . 2017 . 99 . 1175-5334 . 10.11646/zootaxa.4362.1.5. 29245445 .
3. Amaral . Silvana V. . Ribeiro . Giovana G. . Müller . Mário J. . Valiati . Victor H. . Leal-Zanchet . Ana . Tracking the diversity of the flatworm genus Imbira (Platyhelminthes) in the Atlantic Forest . Organisms Diversity & Evolution . 18 . 87–99 . 2018 . 1439-6092 . 10.1007/s13127-018-0358-6.