Arhynchobdellida

Article By:

Siddall, Mark E. Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York.

Last reviewed:May 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.050400

An order of leeches (subclass Hirudinida) characterized by the absence of a protrusible proboscis and including both blood-feeding and macrophagous (predatory) varieties. Most notorious among the blood-feeding leeches in the Arhynchobdellida is the European medicinal leech Hirudo medicinalis (family Hirudinidae). Other freshwater hirudinid species are distributed in Africa (Aliolimnatis species), Asia (Hirudinaria species), and Australia (Goddardobdella species). Other blood-feeding arhynchobdellid leech families are Macrobdellidae (including the North American medicinal leech Macrobdella decora), Praobdellidae, and the terrestrial Haemadipsidae and Xerobdellidae. Arhynchobdellid leeches that have given up on blood in favor of aquatic invertebrates include the South American Americobdellidae, Semiscolescidae, and Cylicobdellidae; the boreal Erpobdellidae; and the African and Asian Salifidae and Gastrostomobdellidae. See also: Hirudinida

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