Hirudo medicinalis Linnaeus, 1758

Šatkauskienė, Ingrida & Rutkauskaitė-Sucilienė, Jurgita, 2022, The present state of the leech fauna (Annelida: Hirudinea) in Lithuania, Zootaxa 5115 (1), pp. 47-62 : 57

Hirudo medicinalis Linnaeus, 1758

( Figures 6T–U–V )

Material examined: Akmena (Nr. 26), n=1, 2.ix.2019; Lampėdžiai (Nr. 37), n=1, 11.ix. 2019.

Diagnosis: Vermiform, large leech. 120 mm maximum length, and 10 mm width. General color of body is brown or greenish black. Yellow or reddish–yellow narrow strips extend on both surfaces of the body ( Fig. 6T–U ). Greenish ventral surface is black spotted. Five pairs of eyespots arranged in parabolic arc. Sensory papillae arrangement ( Fig. 6V ) is distinctive and separates H. medicinalis from the similar Hirudo verbana ( Kutschera and Elliott 2014) .

Habitat and remark: The behavior and life history of H. medicinalis has been extensively studied in laboratory conditions by D. Zapkuvienė and L. Petrauskienė ( Zapkuvienė and Petrauskienė 2000). However, data on distribution and ecology of this species in natural ecosystems is scarce in Lithuania. In this study, only two adult individuals were found hiding under a submerged wood board in lake Akmena (Trakai region) and one leech free floating in lake Lampėdžiai (Kaunas) ( Table 1 ).

Distribution: The geographical distribution of H. medicinalis is North, Central and South–Western Europe ( Utevsky et al. 2010; Kutschera 2012a, 2012 b).

Figures

FIGURE 6. Freshwater leeches in Lithuania:dorsal view of Hirudo medicinalis (T), dorsal papillae (showed by arrow) (U), lateral–ventral view of the body (V); W–lateral view of Haemopis sanguisuga with male copulatory organ outside of the body.