planarian

American  

[pluh-nair-ee-uhn] / pləˈnɛər i ən /

noun

Zoology.

1. any of various free-swimming, mostly freshwater flatworms of the class Turbellaria, having an undulating or sluglike motion: popular in laboratory studies for the ability to regenerate lost parts.

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planarian British  

/ pləˈnɛərɪən /

noun

1. any free-living turbellarian flatworm of the mostly aquatic suborder Tricladida, having a three-branched intestine

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planarian Scientific  

/ plə-nâr′ē-ən /

1. Any of various small, chiefly freshwater flatworms of the class Turbellaria, having soft, broad, ciliated bodies shaped like a leaf. Planarians have a mouth on their lower side that is often closer to the tail than the head, and a three-branched digestive cavity. If a planarian is cut into several pieces, each piece can grow into a whole new organism.

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Etymology

Origin of planarian

1885–60; < New Latin Planari ( a ) a flatworm genus (noun use of feminine of Late Latin plānārius level, on level ground; taken to mean “flat”; see plane ¹, -ary + -an

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

planarian

Sikes has been working with acoels for about 20 years, and their symbiotic relationship differentiates them from other animals that regenerate, like planarian flatworms and axolotls.

From Science Daily ● May 15, 2024

Cut a chunk out of a planarian, and it will regrow exactly those tissues that were removed, neither more nor less.

From Scientific American ● May 31, 2023

María Lucila Scimone, a researcher at M.I.T.’s Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, first noticed these cells while studying Schmidtea mediterranea, a planarian common to bodies of freshwater in Southern Europe and North Africa.

From New York Times ● Jun. 29, 2020

Gurley, K. A., Rink, J. C. & Sánchez Alvarado, A. β-catenin defines head versus tail identity during planarian regeneration and homeostasis.

From Nature ● Nov. 21, 2017

From South Canara, Mr H. Latham sent me a planarian worm, about two inches in length, which is believed to be the vettila poochi.

From Omens and Superstitions of Southern India by Edgar Thurston