Australoplana sanguinea

Description

Size: 2 to 10 cm long, 2 to 5 mm wide. This flatworm is orange or peach coloured with a pink front end it is long and thin and slightly flattened, more so when at rest.

Identification difficulty
Recording advice

Good quality photograph required please.

Habitat

A soil dwelling creature which may turn up in parks and gardens.

When to see it

All year round.

Life History

Feeds on earthworms. Reproduction is mostly by fission, worms breaking in two and both parts regenerating into whole worms.  

UK Status

First identified in the UK in 1981, a specimen found in Tresco, Isles of Scilly. Origin probably Australia. It now seems to be spreading across England.

VC55 Status

Believed to be new to Leicestershire and Rutland when recorded in a Stoneygate garden in 2021.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Species group:
Worms
Kingdom:
Animalia
Order:
Seriata
Family:
Geoplanidae
Records on NatureSpot:
2
First record:
29/03/2021 (Pochin, Christine)
Last record:
04/04/2023 (Pochin, Christine)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

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