It was first described in 1773 by the Danish naturalist Otto Friedrich Müller as Fasciola terrestris, but has since been reassigned to the genus Microplana.

[1] Microplana terrestris, like all flatworms, is an unsegmented, soft-bodied bilaterian without a body cavity, and with no specialized circulatory or respiratory organs.

Its range extends from Sweden in the north to the United Kingdom and Ireland and France, to Greece in the east.

[2] This flatworm is a generalist carnivore, feeding mostly on earthworms, slugs, snails and small arthropods.

[5] It rarely attacks live, uninjured specimens, preferring to feed on dead or injured prey.