Erpobdella

Erpobdella
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Annelida
Class: Clitellata
Subclass: Hirudinea
Order: Arhynchobdellida
Suborder: Erpobdelliformes
Family: Erpobdellidae
Genus: Erpobdella
de Blainville, 1818
Type species
Hirudo octoculata
Linnaeus, 1758
Species

See text

Synonyms[1]
  • Croatobranchus Kerovec, Kučinić & Jalžic, 1999
  • Dina R. Blanchard, 1892
  • Mooreobdella Pawlowski, 1955
  • Nephelopsis Verrill, 1872
  • Semiscolecides Augener, 1930
  • Trocheta Dutrochet, 1817

Erpobdella is a genus of leeches in the family Erpobdellidae. Members of the genus have three or four pairs of eyes, but never have true jaws, and are typically 20–50 millimetres (0.8–2.0 in) long. All members do not feed on blood, but instead are predators of small aquatic invertebrates, which they often swallow whole.[2][1]

Species

The genus includes species previously classified under the genera Croatobranchus, Dina, Mooreobdella, Trocheta and Nephelopsis. These were synonymized into Erpobdella by Sidall (2002) after morphogenetic analysis. There are 37 currently accepted species:[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Mark E. Siddall (2002). "Phylogeny of the leech family Erpobdellidae (Hirudinida : Oligochaeta)" (PDF). Invertebrate Systematics 16: 16.
  2. Douglas Grant Smith (2001). "Annelida". Pennak's freshwater invertebrates of the United States: Porifera to Crustacea (4th ed.). John Wiley & Sons. pp. 269–313. ISBN 978-0-471-35837-4.
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