Geoplanarian

Artioposthia scaphoidea

A land based flatworm typically from 50 to 120mm long and found in moist, dark and less disturbed locations.
Land planarian (Artioposthia scaphoidea) A land flatworm. Thanks to Dr. Leigh Winsor for the ID and expert information. He writes "An interesting specimen. The species exhibits considerable variation in the dorsal groundcolour. The original specimen described from SE Queensland / northern NSW, was light brown. Other specimens are darker brown; some have a slight greenish-blue cast overlaying the ground colour, and some a more yellowish cast. The basic dorsal, lateral (sometimes faint as in this specimen), and ventral stripe patterns remain constant." Australopacifica scaphoidea is a synonym. Artioposthia scaphoidea,Australia,Geoplanarian,Geoplanidae,Geotagged,Summer,land planarian

Appearance

Variable base brown to dark olive with a single narrow dorsal line of paler cream to yellow and under parts paler possibly with black margination; head very narrow to pointy more tapered than rear.

Naming

Geoplana scaphoidea Steel, T. 1900.
Geoplana elegans Steel, T. 1897.
Planaria elegans Darwin, 1844
Artioposthia scaphoidea Winsor, L. 1991. A provisional classification of Australian geoplanidae
Australopacifica scaphoidea (Steel, 1900).

Distribution

Found in all states in Australia except Tasmania. Usually within 50 kilometres of a coastline.

Status

Not threatened.

Behavior

Active hunter of worms, snails small arthropods etc.

Habitat

Only cool, moist dark places.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/Artioposthia_scaphoidea
https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/2a8a91df-f51f-4e7f-a83b-747d3a569d58#overview
Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionPlatyhelminthes
ClassRhabditophora
OrderTricladida
FamilyGeoplanidae
GenusAustralopacifica
SpeciesArtioposthia scaphoidea
Photographed in
Australia