Cratera ochra


Cratera ochra is a species of land planarian in the subfamily Geoplaninae. It is found in Brazil.

Description

Cratera ochra is a medium-sized land planarian with a lanceolate body, reaching up to in length. The dorsum is yellow-ochre in colour, covered with a dispersed greyish to greyish-brown pigmentation that forms two diffuse and irregular longitudinal bands, and two paramarginal longitudinal stripes that are slightly darker than the bands. The ventral side is pale-yellow.
The several eyes of C. ochra are distributed marginally in the first few millimetres of the body and posteriorly become dorsal, occupying around 40% of the body width on each side at the meddle third of the body.
Aside from its colouration and dorsal eyes, C. ochra is distinguished from other members of Cratera by a glandular margin with four or more types of glands, a cylindrical pharynx, an extrabulbar prostatic vesicle with an ample, expanded proximal portion and a tubular distal portion, and ovovitelline ducts that emerge dorsally from the middle of the ovaries and ascend anterior to the gonopore.

Etymology

The specific epithet ochra refers to the yellow-ochre color of the animal's dorsum.

Distribution

The habitat of C. ochra includes moist forests in northeast Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil, as well as plantations of Araucaria angustifolia and Pinus spp.