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Macrobdella decora is a medium-sized leech with a spotted greenish-brown back and a reddish underbelly. It has ten ocelli , or simple eyes, arranged in a horseshoe shape, as well as three long jaws. Internally, a pharynx takes up a tenth of its digestive tract; a stomach, the majority of its body length.
Leeches are segmented parasitic or predatory worms that comprise the subclass Hirudinea within the phylum Annelida. They are closely related to the oligochaetes, ...
The Glossiphoniidae, the freshwater jawless leeches, [citation needed] or leaf leeches (due to their shape) [11] are freshwater leeches, flattened, and with a poorly defined anterior sucker. [2] The family Glossiphoniidae contains one of the world's largest species of leech, the giant Amazon leech , which can grow up to 45 cm in length. [ 12 ]
"Jawed leeches" - termed "Gnathobdellae" or "Gnathobdellida" - are exclusively found among the Hirudiniformes, but the order contains a number of jawless families as well. . The jawed, toothed forms make up the aquatic Hirudidae and the terrestrial Haemadipsidae and Xerobdellidae (sometimes included in the preceding but worthy of recognition as an independent fami
The leech sometimes emerges from the water to hunt for earthworms. [4] [7] Like other leeches, Haemopis sanguisuga is a hermaphrodite. The testes mature first and the ovaries later in the organism's life. A pair of leeches will line up with the clitellar regions in contact, and sperm is passes by the one acting as male to the female gonopore.
Arhynchobdellida, the proboscisless leeches, are a monophyletic order of leeches. They are defined by the lack of the protrusible proboscis that defines their sister taxon, the Rhynchobdellida . [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Arhynchobdellida is a diverse order, compromising both aquatic and terrestrial , besides sanguivorous and predatory , leeches. [ 3 ]
Wheaton says the leeches were created two different ways: For long shots, they used skateboard grip tape, and for the closeups used a combination of latex, blood makeup and rubber cement.
A prominent feature of Pontobdella leeches are the "wart-like" tubercles which cover their bodies all over. Pontobdella 's hosts are generally elasmobranchs – rays, sharks, skates, and sawfish. Each segment of the leech's body (and all leeches have 32) has three or four annuli .