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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.
The Turbellaria are one of the traditional sub-divisions of the phylum Platyhelminthes (flatworms), and include all the sub-groups that are not exclusively parasitic.There are about 4,500 species, which range from 1 mm (0.039 in) to large freshwater forms more than 500 mm (20 in) long [3] or terrestrial species like Bipalium kewense which can reach 600 mm (24 in) in length.
Planarians (triclads) are free-living flatworms of the class Turbellaria, [2] [3] order Tricladida, [4] which includes hundreds of species, found in freshwater, marine, and terrestrial habitats. [5] Planarians are characterized by a three-branched intestine, including a single anterior and two posterior branches. [5]
Geoplanidae is a family of flatworms known commonly as land planarians or land flatworms. [ 2 ] These flatworms are mainly predators of other invertebrates, which they hunt, attack and capture using physical force and the adhesive and digestive properties of their mucus. [ 3 ]
Catenulida is an order of flatworms in the classical classification, or a class of flatworms in a phylogenetic approach. [2] They are relatively small free-living flatworms, inhabiting freshwater and marine environments. There are about 100 species described worldwide, but the simple anatomy makes species distinction problematic. [2]
A parasite called Heterobilharzia americana, a flatworm commonly referred to as liver fluke, was behind the illness of the 11 dogs. The parasite normally makes its home in Texas and in the South.
The Polycladida [1] represents a highly diverse clade of free-living marine flatworms. They are known from the littoral to the sublittoral zone (extending to the deep hot vents), and many species are common from coral reefs. Only a few species are found in freshwater habitats.
The brains of the free-living polyclad, Notoplana acticola, are considered true brains. [4] The body of the flatworm is bilaterally symmetrical and it involves cephalization. [4] Notoplana acticola brains are unique because of the cellular and subcellular neural components that regulate the behavior of the flatworm. [4]