| ABSTRACT Species of Stenostomum are small flatworms that live in freshwater and normally reproduce asexually by paratomy. They are basal in the phylogeny of Platyhelminthes. For more than a century, species of this genus, especially S. leucops, have been used in regeneration and other biological studies. However, some basic aspects of their biology are poorly known. Here, we characterized a strain of S. leucops that has been maintained in the laboratory for five years and a recent strain of S. grande. The time required for complete formation of zooids of S. leucops by asexual reproduction is approximately 42.5 hours at 28°C. The number of cells in the zooids, soon after paratomy, is approximately 2,500. The number of zooids formed in the chain is a plastic... |
