Twice a year Missouri State Park Biologists lead a team of researchers and citizen scientists into Devil's Icebox Cave to monitor the Pink planarian (Macrocotyla glandulosa) population. This particular species has never been found anywhere in the World except in Devil’s Icebox Cave. Pink planarian are in the class Turbellaria (free-living flatworms) in the phylum Platyhelminthes (flatworms). Most turbellarians are free-living, and most are carnivores, eating tiny aquatic invertebrates such as rotifers, small crustaceans, and other worms. During our trip we also found other creatures, such as various species of fish (mostly Darter species), approximately 700 gray bats (Myotis grisescens), and fossilized crinoids (marine animals).
More info on Planarians on MDC's website: https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/turbellarians-planarians-free-living-flatworms
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AuthorSarah Hooper Archives
May 2020
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