Leeches of the World

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Species

Checklist / Glossiphoniidae / Helobdella / Helobdella ringueleti

Helobdella ringueleti

Siddall, 2001 · Glossiphoniidae

Helobdella ringueleti, a leech of the family Glossiphoniidae

External morphology

Body robust and lanceolate broadest in posterior half, Anterior margin of oral sucker (I, II) unpigmented; dorsum gray to light brown with randomly arranged chromatophores; three pairs of fine supramarginal lines (fig. 8) dorsally from VIII through XXIV or XXV, most obvious in juveniles; venter lighter than dorsum in postgenital somites; three pairs of fine infra marginal lines (figs. 6, 10) from VIII through XXIV or XXV corresponding to those seen dorsally. Caudal sucker evenly pigmented , gonopores separated by 1 annulus

Internal morphology

Proboscis in membranous sheath and very long, base at XIV/XV and coiled when retracted; salivary cells arranged diffusely in parenchyma, ductules of the latter forming a bundle inserting into the base of the probos cis; oesophagus simple, not recurved; no gas tric chambers or digitiform caeca in midbody somites, only postcaeca (diverticula) from XIX through XXIV (fig. 15); intestine from XIX/XX with four lobes; anus at XXVI/ XXVII

Habitat & range

Habitat
Freshwater
Region
South America
Recorded from
Bolivia

Original description

Siddall, Mark E. 2001. Hirudinea from the Apolobamba in the Bolivian Andes, including three new species of Helobdella (Clitellata: Hirudinea). American Museum Novitates(3341): 1-14.

doi:10.1206/0003-0082(2001)341