Montana Field Guide

Help

Montana Field Guides

Home - Other Field Guides
- Kingdom - Animals - Animalia
  - Phylum - Flatworms - Platyhelminthes
    - Class - Flatworms - Turbellaria
      - Order - Flatworms - Tricladida
        
        Family - (Planariidae) - Planariidae
        
        Species - A Planarid Worm - Polycelis coronata

A Planarid Worm - Polycelis coronata

No photos are currently available

If you have a high quality photo of this species, are confident in the identification, and would like to submit it for inclusion on the Montana Field Guide, please send it to us using our online photo submission tool.

Image Copyright and Usage Information

Native Species

Global Rank: GNR
State Rank: S5

Agency Status
USFWS:
USFS:
BLM:

External Links

General Description

This flatworm species is a cold-water stenotherm (preferring water tempertures in the range of 6-10 degrees C) and occurs throughout Montana's small mountian streams east and west fo the Continental divide and especially in cold spring-influenced streams and creeks. You can find them clinging underneath cobbles and boulders during the day and patrolling during the evening looking for food, generally scavengers, eating other dead invertebrates or vertebrates.

Diagnostic Characteristics

The diagnostic feature that separates this flatworm species from other Turbellarians is the ring of eyes that form a semi-circle across the head.

Range Comments

This cold-water flatworm occurs throughout Montana's mountian streams east and west fo the Continental divide and especially in cold spring-influenced streams and creeks.

Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database

Number of Observations: 217

(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version) Map Help and Descriptions

Relative Density

Recency

(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)

Stewardship Responsibility

References

Web Search Engines for Articles on "A Planarid Worm"

Take us with you!

Look for this PDF icon as you search and browse. Click it to build a custom PDF with species shown on that page or for all the species within that taxonomic level. To create your own list of species, use the PDF Creator tool at the bottom of the Advanced Search page.

Here's some links if you want to download a whole group.

Dragonflies / Damselflies

Ferns and allies

Conifers

Flowering Plants (Dicots)

Flowering Plants (Monocots)

Citation for data on this website:
A Planarid Worm — Polycelis coronata. Montana Field Guide. Montana Natural Heritage Program. Retrieved on January 15, 2025, from https://FieldGuide.mt.gov/speciesDetail.aspx?elcode=IPTUR10020