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Animalia >Platyhelminthes >TURBELLARIA >Tricladida >Bipalidae >unidentified >

A terrestrial flatworm is creeping. Although its Japanese common name has the word "hiru"meaning a blood sucker at its end, this creature is not a true bloodsucker (annelid worms). It belongs to the phylum Platyhelminthes (flatworms), and is distantly related to blood suckers. It feeds on land snails and does not feed on blood from other organisms (Only a limited number of "hirus" actually feed on mammalian blood). Its name "Kogai" comes from the fact that its resembles a Japanese hairpin called "Kogai", rather than from a similar-sounding word meaning public environmental hazard.

(Data No.momo050224un01b)

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