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Specy

Medicinal Leech

Segmented Worms

Hirudo medicinalis, the European medicinal leech, is a blood feeding annelid in the class Clitellata and family Hirudinidae, formally described by Linnaeus in 1758 and one of several leech species used therapeutically. Adults reach about twenty centimetres in length, coloured green, brown or greenish brown with a darker back and lighter underside and a thin red stripe along the dorsal surface, and have two suckers, an anterior sucker containing tripartite jaws lined with roughly one hundred sharp edges and a posterior sucker used for attachment; a feeding bite leaves a distinctive inverted Y mark inside a circular wound. A single feeding can draw up to ten times the leech's own body weight, typically five to fifteen millilitres of blood, after which it may go up to a year before feeding again. The species ranges across nearly all of Europe into parts of Asia, reaching Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, favouring muddy freshwater pools and ditches with abundant vegetation in temperate regions, though nineteenth century over-collection and habitat loss have left it listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN. Ancient Egyptian medical texts describe leech therapy from three thousand five hundred years ago, and medieval European medicine used leeches for bloodletting; modern medicine revived their use in the 1970s for microsurgery, particularly finger reattachment and reconstructive procedures, drawing on secretions in their saliva that promote blood flow and reduce inflammation.

Facts

Classification

Diet

Parasitic 2

System (Realm)

Freshwater 3

Relationship to People

Farmed or Commercially Raised 1

Relationship to People

Used in Traditional Medicine 1

Living or Extinct

Yes 1

Derived from this species' own Conservation Status: this atlas's IUCN category list has no Extinct value, so a set conservation-status is itself evidence of living status.

Identification

Distinguishing Appearance

Fully mature adults can be up to 20 centimetres in length, and are green, brown, or greenish-brown with a darker dorsal side, a lighter ventral side, a thin red stripe on the dorsal side, and two suckers, one at each end. 1

Comparison

NatureServe Rank

GNR Unranked 4

CITES Appendix

Appendix II 5

Scientific Name

Hirudo medicinalis 1

Conservation Status

Near Threatened 1

Connections

Child Taxon Of

Source Hirudo Medicinalis (Wikidata)

In Biome

Source Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology: Hirudo medicinalis (Animal Diversity Web)

In the Other Atlases

Found In

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Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Sources

1. Medicinal leech, Wikipedia

Lead section, first sentence
Hirudo medicinalis, or the European medicinal leech, is one of several species of leeches used as medicinal leeches.
Infobox: status
NT
Morphology section
Fully mature adults can be up to 20 centimeters in length, and are green, brown, or greenish-brown with a darker tone on the dorsal side and a lighter ventral side. The dorsal side also has a thin red stripe. These organisms have two suckers, one at each end.
article text (relationship to people), EntityId 299178
Leeches were often gathered by leech collectors and were eventually farmed in large numbers.

View the Source

2. Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology: Hirudo medicinalis (Animal Diversity Web)

Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology

Food Habits
Hirudo medicinalis is parasitic and the adults feed on the blood of mammals.
In Biome: Lake, Habitat: Aquatic Biomes
Aquatic Biomes lakes and ponds

View the Source

3. GBIF Species API

GBIF Species APIView the Source

4. NatureServe Explorer: Hirudo medicinalis

NatureServe ExplorerGlobal rank (roundedGRank)

Quote, Global rank (roundedGRank)

"roundedGRank": "GNR"

View the Source

5. Wikipedia: Hirudo medicinalis

WikipediaArticle text

Quote, Article text

The species is protected under Appendix II of CITES meaning international trade (including in parts and derivatives) is regulated by the CITES permitting system.

View the Source

Wikidata: Medicinal Leech

Wikidata Q30041, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source

Hirudo Medicinalis (Wikidata)

Wikidata

Child Taxon Of: Clitellata, Wikidata parent-taxon (P171) chain
In Group: Leeches (Hirudinea), Lead
Hirudo medicinalis, or the European medicinal leech, is one of several species of leeches used as medicinal leeches.

View the Source

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