Placobdella mexicana

External morphology

Venter striped, dorsum smooth with few papillae or tubercles, The color ofthe alcoholic specimens is a rich chocolate brown blotched with lighter and darker brown, a branched figure of the latter color corresponding very closely with the branches of the intestine, and the pale spots in general with the papilhe. A median white line appears at the anterior and posterior ends of the body. Beginning anteriorly in a triangular area which incrludes the eyes, it is more or less interrupted and broken at the first annulus of each somite to the seventh, where the band fades out. On the second annulus of each of these somites the pale area runs out laterad in transverse bars, and on V they form a nuchal band. At the posterior end a similar narrow pale area extends forward from the anus to somite X XI. Marginal white spots occur metamerically on each somite. The posterior sucker is marked with alternating rays of brown and white, the latter being confined mainly to the marginal half.

Habitat & range

Habitat

Freshwater

Region

North America

Recorded from

Mexico

Junior synonyms

Placobdella moorei