Paraba Explained

Paraba is a genus of land planarians from South America.

Description

Species of the genus Paraba have a slender body with nearly parallel margins while creeping. The largest specimens may reach about 8 cm in length. Both sides of the body are slightly convex. The pharynx is cylindrical and the prostatic vesicle is extrabulbar. The copulatory apparatus has a permanent, protrusible, conical penis occupying the entire male cavity, which is unfolded, and the female cavity is rounded and filled with a multilayered epithelium.^[1]

Etymology

Paraba means multicolored in the Tupi language and alludes to the name of the type-species, Paraba multicolor.

Species

The following species are recognised in the genus Paraba:

• Paraba aurantia ^[2]
• Paraba bresslaui ^[3]
• Paraba caapora
• Paraba cassula
• Paraba franciscana
• Paraba gaucha
• Paraba goettei
• Paraba hortulana ^[4]
• Paraba iguassuensis ^[5]
• Paraba incognita
• Paraba multicolor
• Paraba pankaru
• Paraba phocaica
• Paraba piriana
• Paraba preta
• Paraba pseudogaucha
• Paraba rubidolineata
• Paraba smaragdina
• Paraba suva
• Paraba tapira
• Paraba tata
• Paraba tingauna
• Paraba viricornuta

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. Marques . Alessandro Damasceno . Hartmann . Alef . Valiati . Victor Hugo . Leal-Zanchet . Ana Maria . Two new land planarian species (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida) from the Cerrado biome in southwestern Brazil . Zootaxa . 9 November 2022 . 5205 . 4 . 301–330 . 1175-5326 . 1175-5334 . 10.11646/zootaxa.5205.4.1 .
3. Silva . Marcos Santos . Carbayo . Fernando . X-ray microcomputed tomography applied to the taxonomic study of rare material: redescriptions of seven of Schirch's Brazilian species of land planarians (Geoplanidae, Platyhelminthes) . ZooKeys . 10 February 2020 . 910 . 1–42 . 1313-2989 . 1313-2970 . 10.3897/zookeys.910.39486 . 32099514 . 7026197 . free .
4. Rossi . Ilana . Leal-Zanchet . Ana Maria . Hidden diversity under stripes: three new species of land flatworms of the genus Paraba (Platyhelminthes: Geoplanidae) from the southern Atlantic forest . Studies on Neotropical Fauna and Environment . 2023 . 10.1080/01650521.2023.2278220 .
5. Rossi . Ilana . Peres . Jéssica Cardoso . Negrete . Lisandro . Leal-Zanchet . Ana . Increasing the species diversity of the genus Paraba (Platyhelminthes) with the description of two new species from the southern atlantic forest . Zoologischer Anzeiger . September 2020 . 288 . 11–23 . 0044-5231 . 10.1016/j.jcz.2020.06.003 . 11336/136597 . free .