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So, they’re not super dangerous to people or animals. But they are still invasive, and the kind of invasive that can really damage an ecosystem.According to the conservation group Buglife, these ...
Bipalium species are predatory.Some species prey on earthworms, while others may also feed on mollusks. [10] [11] These flatworms can track their prey. [12]When captured, earthworms begin to react to the attack, but the flatworm uses the muscles in its body, as well as sticky secretions, to attach itself to the earthworm to prevent escape.
This genealogical membership gives them the ability to become two different, genetically identical flatworms if they are cut in half—a process that can actually be initiated by the flatworm as a ...
While flatworms can look quite alien and scary looking, they aren't dangerous to people or pets. "Just don't eat them in large quantities since some flatworm species can carry toxins and parasites ...
Free-living flatworms are mostly predators, and live in water or in shaded, humid terrestrial environments, such as leaf litter. Cestodes (tapeworms) and trematodes (flukes) have complex life-cycles, with mature stages that live as parasites in the digestive systems of fish or land vertebrates , and intermediate stages that infest secondary hosts.
Dignetic flatworm species require more than one host to complete a full life cycle. Bucephalus polymorphus requires three hosts. Dreissena polymorpha, a small freshwater mussel, is the first intermediate host parasitized by the hatching miracidium. Within the visceral mass of Dreissena, the miracidium transforms into a mother (primary) sporocyst.
The parasites, which can cause intestinal and eye problems, are now widespread in a nonnative snail in area lakes and reservoirs. The snails are also spreading across the U.S.
Most adult individuals of B. adventitium are 5–8 cm (2.0–3.1 in) in length. The head is expanded and fan-shaped, being easily distinguishable from other common species of Bipalium, such as Bipalium kewense and Bipalium pennsylvanicum, because these have a head in the shape of a half moon. [1]