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Animal profile

Brown Planarian

Schmidtea mediterranea

RhabditophoraCool freshwater springs, streams and ponds, under stones and leaf litter

Field profile

Schmidtea mediterranea is a small freshwater flatworm with two simple eyespots and a ventral pharynx. It is the standard laboratory planarian for regeneration research because of its exceptional capacity to rebuild missing body parts. Both sexual and asexual strains exist.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2024-07-29

Brown Planarian

A planarian rebuilds a whole body from fragments

Cut a planarian in pieces and each fragment can regrow a complete worm, head included. The capacity comes from a large population of adult stem cells called neoblasts, the only dividing cells in the animal.

Read with evidence →

Brown Planarian | Daily Animal Facts