Checklist / Erpobdellidae / Erpobdella / Erpobdella madenensis
Erpobdella madenensis
· Erpobdellidae
External morphology
Body slightly flattened andalmost cylindrical in dorsoventral direction, light to dark brown. Dorsum darker than ventral, with a few small spots of darker brown. Body surface flat and smooth, papillae not visible. Contains 92 annuli excluding posterior sucker. Widths of annuli equal in segments, do not show second-order divisions. Mid-body segments containing five annuli, widths of equal size. Average body length 35.20±7.44 mm (26.3–64.9 mm), width 3.05 ±1.12 mm (1.82–7.54 mm), anterior sucker diameter 0.78 ±0.14 mm (0.4–1.0 mm), and posterior sucker diameter 2.46 ±0.64 mm (1.7– 5.0 mm). Four pairs of eyes, two annuli between anterior and posterior pairs. Anterior and posterior pairs almost equal in size and are easily lost in alcohol-preserved specimens. Eye position is equidistant from each other. Male gonopore located in the middle of 32nd annulus on XIb2. Female gonopore located in groove and separated by 2.5 annuli. Female gonopore in furrow between segments XI b5/b6 (34/35th annuli). Clitellar region situated between X–XIIth segments, with 15 annuli.
Habitat & range
- Habitat
- Freshwater
- Region
- Europe
- Recorded from
- Turkey
Original description
Saglam, Naim; Saunders, Ralph; Shain, Daniel H. (2025). Species delimitation recovers undescribed Erpobdellidae (Annelida: Hirudinea) from USA and Türkiye. Zootaxa. 5627(3): 455-479.