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Biol Bull 117: 119-124. (August 1959)
© 1959 Marine Biological Laboratory
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OBSERVATIONS ON THE NUTRITION OF THE LAND PLANARIAN ORTHODEMUS TERRESTRIS (O. F. MÜLLER)

J. B. JENNINGS 1

1 Department of Zoology, University of Leeds, England

1. The land planarian Orthodemus terrestris feeds principally upon small slugs and earthworms which are captured after chance encounter.

2. The typical triclad method of feeding, with the protruded cylindrical plicate pharynx inserted into the prey to disrupt and withdraw the body contents, is used without modification.

3. Disintegration of the food during ingestion is so effective that the resultant particles are available for immediate phagocytosis by the gut cells and intraluminar digestion is absent.

4. The food reserves consist of fat stored in the mesenchyme and columnar gut cells, and protein stored in gastrodermal "sphere-cells." Protein reserves are depleted during the breeding season and replenished in the late summer and autumn.

5. It would appear that the basic triclad methods of feeding and digestive processes are quite adequate to the needs of terrestrial life and Orthodemus shows no particular adaptation to this so far as nutrition is concerned.






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Copyright © 1959 by the Marine Biological Laboratory.