Checklist / Xerobdellidae / Xerobdella / Xerobdella lecomtei
Xerobdella lecomtei
· Xerobdellidae
External morphology
Up to 65 mm, width reaching 5 mm. The body is cylindrical fusiform. The jaws bear 20-35 teeth. Caudal sucker disc shows minute radially arranged pilasters. The basic colour of the body is olive green to grey brown. The dorsal surface is black with the anterior part brighter. The body have surface characteristic pattern of “warts” produced by shallow longitudinal grooves crossing the annuli. As a result, quadrate or elongate rectangles seem to cover the body.
Habitat & range
- Habitat
- Terrestrial
- Region
- Europe
- Recorded from
- Austria
Biology
Alpine regions, stenotherm species. Dimishing populations, endangered by loss of glacier microclima and climate change. Predator of oligochaetes, gastropods and larvae of Diptera or sucks on Salamandra atra. It lives under stones and leaves in humid micro climates, predominantly in beech forests.
Original description
Frauenfeld, Georg Ritter von. (1868). Ein neuer Landegel aus Oesterreich. Verhandlungen der Kaiserlich-Königlichen Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien. 18: 147–149
Sources used for this page
Picture:ISBN 9783827409270; Description: ISBN 9783827409270, sumie-dh