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| Prolecithophora | |
|---|---|
| |
| The candy-cane worm (Plagiostomum vittatum), a common Northeast Atlantic species | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Platyhelminthes |
| Subphylum: | Rhabditophora |
| Order: | Prolecithophora Karling, 1940 |
| Families | |
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See text. | |
The Prolecithophora are an order consisting of an estimated 300 species of small (typically 0.2 – 12 mm, one species up to 50 mm), active, aquatic flatworms. The order lacks a common English name. Most species are shaped like an elongated, stylized droplet, and are opaque white or yellow; they frequently have contrasting bands or spots in colors, such as purple, yellow, red, or brown. They have no to three (normally two) pairs of pigment-cup eyes, and well-developed tactile and chemoreceptor senses. With few exceptions, species are protandric hermaphrodites with internal fertilization. Egg capsules are, according to species, glued to various hard surfaces; the young hatch as miniature copies of their parents.[1]
- ^ Karling, T. G. 1940. "Zur Morphologie und Systematik der Alloeocoela Cumulata und Rhabdocoela Lecithophora (Turbellaria)". Acta Zoologica Fennica, 26, 1–260.