Polycladus is a genus of land planarians from South America, currently comprising a single species, Polycladus gayi, which occurs in the Valdivian Forest, Chile.
Polycladus is a very understudied genus of land planarians. It was defined as land planarians with a wide, flat and leaf-like body, having the entire ventral surface ciliated and with mouth and gonopore posteriorly shifted in relation to other land planarians. The copulatory apparatus has a well-developed permanent penis and the female canal enters the genital antrum ventrally.[1] This definition, however, is incomplete regarding all anatomical structures currently considered in the definition of planarian genera.[2]
The name Polycladus comes from Greek πολύ (many) + κλάδος (branch), referring to the branched intestine. Despite the name, Polycladus is not a species of the flatworm order Polycladida, but rather of Tricladida.
The specific epithet of the type-species, gayi, commemorates French naturalist Claude Gay.[3]
Polycladus is a genus of land planarians from South America, currently comprising a single species, Polycladus gayi, which occurs in the Valdivian Forest, Chile.
