Microplaninae is a subfamily of land planarians.
Description The subfamily Microplaninae was defined by Ogren and Kawakatsu (1988)Ogren, R. E. and Kawakatsu, M. (1988). Index to the species of the family Rhynchodemidae (Turbellaria, Tricladida, Terricola) Part I: Rhynchodeminae. Bulletin of Fujis Women's College. 26: 39-91. for land planarians with a short and cylindroid form, an anterior end that is blunt, eyes often small and subepithelial musculature weak. The male copulatory apparatus is often complicated and has a well-developed penis. The female apparatus is very variable, with or without a seminal bursa and with or without a connection with the intestine.
It was originally considered, based on morphological evidence, to be the sister group of the subfamily Rhynchodeminae. However, recent phylogenetic analyses indicated that both subfamilies are not closely related.
Genera Eight genera of Microplaninae are known: Diporodemus Hyman, 1938 Geobenazzia Minelli, 1974 Incapora Du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1953 Microplana Vejdowsky, 1890 Othelosoma Grey, 1869 Pseudartiocotylus Ikeda, 1911 Statomicroplana Kawakatsu, Froehlich, Jones, Ogren & Sasaki, 2003
Phylogeny Phylogenetic tree including the land planarian subfamilies after Álvarez-Presas et al., 2008. Note that Spathula and Romankenkius belong to the Dugesiidae family:
References