About Schmidtea nova

The genus Schmidtea comprises four species of freshwater planarians, predominantly found in Europe, with some populations also present in north Africa, Asia and introduced in regions of America [2,4]. Schmidtea nova is a poorly studied species and has only been morphologically desctibed very recently [4]. Schmidtea nova is reported only from a few localities ranging from northern Italy in the south to Sweden in the north, and eastward to Romania (see [4] for a summary). This broad yet sparse distribution suggests that S. nova may be more widespread and abundant than suggested by the current species records.

Little is known about the life cycle of Schmidtea nova. Observed populations reproduce through the deposition of egg capsules. Its karyotype consists of a diploid chromosome number of 2n = 6, differing from the 2n = 8 characteristic of other Schmidtea species, including its sister species Schmidtea lugubris. Interestingly, S. nova appears to induce a developmental response in embryos of the frog species Rana temporaria, which it preys upon [5].

The S. nova strain (internal ID: GOE00023) was collected at 51,0717710 and 13,7421400 in Dresden, Germany, on 2013-04-14.

Picture credit (Creative Commons BY 4.0): Miquel Vila-Farré, Dept. of Tissue Dynamics and Regeneration, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences

Taxonomy ID 163373

Taxonomy ID 163373

Data source Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences

More information and statistics