Hooge MD & Smith JPS 2004 (citation). 'Proporus carolinensis appears to be most similar to P. lonchitus and P. minimus. These three species have pharynges that open posterior to the level of the statocyst; this is unlike the condition found in the other three known species of Proporus in which the mouth is located anterior to the statocyst. In addition, P. carolinensis and P. lonchitus are the only known species in the genus to have paired testes. In contrast, P. carolinensis lacks the gut musculature found in P. minimus, and the glands surrounding the pharynx of P. lonchitus. Most importantly, P. carolinensis does not have glands opening into the male antrum, as is the case in all other known species in the genus. Proporus carolinensis lacks accessory muscles that fan out from the mouth opening as found in another species of the Proporidae, Proporus bermudensis Hooge & Tyler, 2001, and other pharynx-bearing turbellarians such as Macrostomum hystricinum (see Rieger et al. 1994).'
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