Works on Leech Biology and Applications

We describe new species of the genus Pheretima from Catanduanes Island, Philippines. Pheretima lapulapui sp. nov. belongs to the Pheretima sangirensis group, with one pair of sper…

In this study, two new species, Armascirus kuandianensis Chen & Jin, sp. nov. and A. stellatus Chen & Jin, sp. nov. are described and illustrated based on females. Additionally, a…

As part of a series of investigations on earthworm diversity conducted in northeastern China in recent years, a new species, Amynthas dandongensis Han & Zhao, sp. nov., has been d…

The Drawida japonica (Michaelsen, 1892) species complex is a cosmopolitan earthworm group that is widely distributed throughout Asia, and has a high degree of diversity. Nonethele…

Freshwater leeches of the genus Helobdella Blanchard, 1896 (Annelida: Clitellata) are widely distributed in the New World, with most of the species occurring in the neotropics and…

Museum collections continue to play a critical role in taxonomic research by preserving historical material and biodiversity records that might otherwise have been lost. In the pr…

Three new species of the genus Pheretima are described from Mount Bulusan, Sorsogon Province, Luzon Island, Philippines: Pheretima bulusanensis sp. nov., Pheretima sorsogonensis s…

We present for the first time the complete mitochondrial genomes (mt genomes) of the earthworms Aporrectodea caliginosa and Ap. trapezoides (Clitellata, Megadrili) collected in Hu…

Albinism is an uncommon phenomenon and inherited condition in animals characterized by a partial or complete lack of melanin. The family Xenodermidae Gray, 1849, is a group of cae…

Earthworm specimens collected from Sakon Nakhon and Nakhon Phanom, northeast Thailand, were found to contain four new species in the family Megascolecidae, with one species in the…

In this study, we describe a new dancing semislug from a limestone hill area in northeastern Thailand. Cryptosemelus niger sp. nov. differs from the three recognized congener spec…

We describe and illustrate a new scorpion species, Androctonus tihamicus sp. nov., from the Mecca Province of southwestern Saudi Arabia. The new species is compared to the genus A…

Alboglossiphonia pallida (Verrill, 1872) comb. nov. is resurrected and redescribed based on morphological and molecular data from specimens of the type locality (New Haven County,…

Medicinal leeches in the genus Hirudo have been utilized for therapeutic procedures for thousands of years. To date, six known species of Hirudo are widely distributed in differen…

Hirudinea, a small and ecologically important group of aquatic organisms, is poorly studied in northern Eurasia. In this study, we demyth the idea of the faunistic poverty of this…

Hemienchytraeus wuhanensis sp. nov. is described from hardwood forest soil in Wuhan, China. This moderately sized enchytraeid species of 6–9 mm body length is characterized by: (1…

Specimens obtained from ten populations of a Monacha species from the central Apennines were compared with six molecular lineages of Monacha cantiana s. l. (CAN-1, CAN-2, CAN-3, C…

A list of terrestrial enchytraeids of the Russian Far East is compiled based on literature and extensive field data collected by the authors in 2019. A database has been created c…

Hirudinaria manillensis (Lesson, 1842), commonly known as the buffalo leech, shows a polymorphism of two ventral colorations. The green color morph has a plain green ventral surfa…

One of the features of the tundra zone is the diversity of freshwater bodies, where, among benthic invertebrates, representatives of Annelida are the most significant component in…

In 2016, the type-material of ten of the 15 Brazilian land planarians (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Geoplanidae) described by Schirch (1929) was discovered deposited in the Museu …

Abstract A new species of glossiphoniid leech, Placobdelloides sirikanchanae sp. nov., is reported in the Asian leaf turtle (Cyclemys dentata) and the dark-bellied leaf turtle (C.…

The luminous earthworm Pontodrilus litoralis (Grube, 1855) occurs in a very wide range of subtropical and tropical coastal areas. Morphometrics on size variation (number of segmen…

The enchytraeid fauna of three areas in Jeju Island (Korea) was studied, and comparative morphological and molecular taxonomic examinations (based on CO1, ITS and H3 sequences) we…

Associations of various invertebrate species with bryozoans and sponges are a well-known marine phenomenon but such epizooic communities are far less diverse in freshwater environ…

The third part of the catalogue of type material in the Helminthological Collection of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute/FIOCRUZ (CHIOC), comprising types deposited between 1979 and 2016…

Since the publication of the ground-breaking “Catalogue of the scorpions of the world (1758–1998)” (Fet et al. 2000) the number of species in the scorpion genus Buthus Leach, 1815…

To date, the only species of leech reported from the American Alligator, Alligator mississippiensis is Placobdella multilineata. Seven specimens of a previously undescribed specie…

A new leech species Helobdella blinni sp. n., is described from Montezuma Well, an isolated travertine spring mound located in central Arizona, USA. In its native habitat, H. blin…

The San Marcos River in Central Texas has been well studied and has been demonstrated to be remarkably specious. Prior to the present study, research on free-living invertebrates …

A variety of chemical substances have been used to relax and/or immobilize polychaete worms, and other invertebrates, prior to specimen preparation for morphological examination. …

A comprehensive and updated summary of the literature and unpublished records contained in scientific collections on the helminth parasites of the elasmobranchs from Mexico is her…

A new quadrannulate species of Orobdella Oka, 1895, Orobdella naraharaetmagarum sp. n., from the mountainous region of western Honshu, Japan is described. Orobdella naraharaetmaga…

Tadpoles of Hyperolius castaneus and H. jackie were found in the Nyungwe National Park in Rwanda and adjacent areas. Tadpoles of both species were identified by DNA-barcoding. At …

In total, 435 specimens of the Southeast Asian freshwater leech species within the Hirudinidae family were collected from 17 locations of various types of aquatic habitats in nort…

The Caucasus ecoregion is one of the most important biodiversity hotspots in western Eurasia. Georgia is situated in the middle of this area, between the ranges of the Greater and…

Two new leech species from Africa are presented. The position of the eyes, the number of crop caeca and the gonopores separated by two annuli indicate that both belong to the genu…

A large-type sexannulate leech species, Orobdella ibukifukuyamai sp. nov., from Kii-Oshima Island, Japan, is described based on morphologic and molecular data. Phylogenetic analys…

We describe the unusual case of erythrism in the Eastern Grass Snake, Natrix natrix. This colour morph is very rare and has not been reported in the literature before. Despite hav…

The earthworm family Hormogastridae shows a remarkable disjunction in its distribution in the Iberian Peninsula, with the Hormogaster elisae species complex isolated from the rest…

The morphological and anatomical simplicity of soil dwelling animals, such as earthworms, has limited the establishment of a robust taxonomy making it sometimes subjective to auth…

Two Korean endemic pheretimoid Amynthas Kinberg, 1867 species belonging in family Megascolecidae s. stricto are sketched, dissected and described. Amynthas daeari Blakemore sp. n.…

Conflict among data sources can be frequent in evolutionary biology, especially in cases where one character set poses limitations to resolution. Earthworm taxonomy, for example, …

A new quadrannulate species of Orobdella, Orobdella ketagalan sp. n., from Taipei, Taiwan, is described. This is the first record of Orobdella and the family Orobdellidae from Tai…

Several Pseudamnicola (Corrosella) populations of the central and eastern Iberian Peninsula have been ascribed to P. (C.) astieri (Dupuy, 1851), though recent evidence demonstrate…

A new sexannulate species of the genus Orobdella Oka, 1895, Orobdella mononoke sp. n., is described on the basis of five specimens collected from Yakushima Island, Japan. Orobdell…

A new quadrannulate Orobdella Oka, 1895 species, Orobdella koikei sp. n., is described on the basis of six specimens collected from Hokkaido, Japan. In addition, an emended descri…

Three species of land leeches, including a new combination Haemadipsa rjukjuana comb. n., a new record for Haemadipsa picta Moore, as well as an updated description for Tritetrabd…

Arion vulgaris Moquin-Tandon, 1855 is amongst the fastest-spreading terrestrial slugs Europe-wide. In recent years, it has been recorded in Canada, Mexico and continues to expand …

Glossiphoniid leeches are a diverse group and sometimes abundant elements of the aquatic fauna inhabiting various types of freshwater habitats. In this study, we sampled leeches o…