A New Species of Phaenoplana (Platyhelminthes: Polycladida) from the Ogasawara Islands

Abstract

We describe a new species of polyclad flatworm, Phaenoplana kopepe sp. nov., from Chichijima island in the Ogasawara Islands, Japan. This is the first report of Phaenoplana from Japan. Phaenoplana kopepe sp. nov. is characterized by i) a vagina that curves anteriorly, ii) gonopores well-separated from each other, and iii) a Lang’s duct that is shorter than the vagina. We provide a partial sequence (610 bp) from the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene as a DNA barcode for the species.