Minutaplana Sluys & Vila-Farré, 2025

Sluys, Ronald, Vila-Farré, Miquel & Laumer, Christopher E., 2025, Integrative delimitation of two new, meiobenthic species of flatworms from Panama, constituting two new genera of marine triclads (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Maricola), Zootaxa 5686 (4), pp. 485-502 : 487

Genus Minutaplana Sluys & Vila-Farré , gen. nov. incertae sedis

Type species. Minutapla dimaculosa Vila-Farré & Laumer , sp. nov.

Etymology. The generic name is based on the Latin adjectives minutus, small, and planus, flat, and alludes to the fact that these flatworms are very small in size. Gender: feminine.

Diagnosis. Marine triclads with: (1) septa in the penis papilla, channelling secretion towards the proximal end of the ejaculatory duct; (2) a secondary gonopore located posteriorly to the primary gonopore; (3) a copulatory bursa that is connected with the secondary gonopore and is located posterior to the male copulatory apparatus and communicates with the exterior through a canal that arises from its posterior wall and opens through the dorsal epidermis near the caudal end of the body; (4) two retinal cells per eyecup; (5) a distinct lens to each eyecup; and (6) numerous nuclei surrounding the ejaculatory duct and the wall of the penis papilla.