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Geoplanidae is a family of flatworms known commonly as land planarians. It is an understudied but important group of organisms of soil ecosystems.〔Winsor, L., P. M. Johns, and G. M. Yeates. 1998. (Introduction, and ecological and systematic background, to the Terricola (Tricladida). ) ''Pedobiologia'' 42(5-6), 389-404.〕 These flatworms are predators of other invertebrates such as earthworms, snails, slugs, insects and chelicerates, which they hunt, attack and capture using physical force and the adhesive and digestive properties of their mucus. They lack water-retaining mechanisms and are therefore very sensitive to humidity variations of their environment. Because of their strict ecological requirements, some species have been proposed as indicators of the conservation state of their habitats. They are generally animals with low vagility (dispersal ability) and with very specific habitat requirements, so they can be also used to accurately determine the distribution of biogeographic zones. Today the fauna of these mostly rather fragile animals is being studied to select conservation priorities in the Atlantic rainforest in Brazil. At the other extreme, one species in this family, ''Platydemus manokwari'' has become an invasive species in both disturbed and wild habitats in the Pacific Islands, and has damaged the endemic land snail faunas. This species has been found in Europe (France) in 2013 for the first time,〔 〕 and in 2015 in New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna Islands, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Puerto Rico (first record in the Caribbean), and Florida, USA.〔 〕 ==Diversity== The family Geoplanidae is composed of four subfamilies: * Rhynchodeminae * Bipaliinae * Geoplaninae * Microplaninae Although there are over 830 known species of Geoplanidae in the world,〔Schockaert, E. R., et al. 2008. (Global diversity of free living flatworms (Platyhelminthes, "Turbellaria") in freshwater. ) ''Hydrobiologia'' 198, 41-48.〕 the diversity of land planarians is still poorly known. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「geoplanidae」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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