Turbellarian taxonomic database

Abstract / Notes

A new land planarian, Orthodemus indica sp. nov., belonging to the family Rhynchodemidae, is reported for the
first time in India, from the Vindhyan region. The new has been assigned species status on the basis of its
morphological and anatomical characters, such as its elongate body and nodose anterior end, its black
colouring and the black band extending down the middle of its back from mid-dorsal level, its two obliquely
set eyes, its postpharyngeal oval testes, the two sperm ducts opening separately into the bulbar cavity, the
large symmetrical penis papilla and small male antrum, and the pear-shaped female complex with a large
seminal bursa. The worm is hermaphroditic and cannibalistic. It attains sexual maturity at the end of August
or the beginning of September.

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