Hirudo Explained

Hirudo should not be confused with Hirundo.

Hirudo is a genus of leeches of the family Hirudinidae. It was described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.[1]

The two well-accepted species within the genus are:[2]

Three other species, previously synonymized with H. medicinalis, were described in 2005 and are gaining acceptance:[2] [3] [4]

Description

Species are typically exterior feeders. They have jaws that typically consist of about 60 teeth and do not possess papillae.[5]

Distribution

Hirudo medicinalis: Britain and southern Norway to the southern Urals, probably as far as the Altai Mountains (the deciduous arboreal zone)
Hirudo verbana: Switzerland and Italy to Turkey and Uzbekistan (the Mediterranean and sub-boreal steppe zone)
Hirudo orientalis: Transcaucasian countries, Iran, and Central Asia (mountainous areas in the sub-boreal eremial zone)
Hirudo sulukii: Kara Lake of Adiyaman, Sülüklü Lake of Gaziantep and Segirkan wetland of Batman in Turkey[4]
Hirudo troctina: North-western Africa and Spain (Mediterranean zone)
Hirudo nipponia: East Asia, including Far East district in Russian, Japan, Korea, China, Mongolia, Ryukyu Islands and Taiwan[6]
Hirudo tianjinensis: China [7]

Hirudo verbana is further divided into nonoverlapping eastern and western phylogroups.[8]

Medical use

While H. medicinalis has long been used in hirudotherapy, and is approved by the US FDA as a prescription medical device, a 2007 study employing genetic analysis found that the species being marketed as H. medicinalis, possibly for decades, was the recently distinguished H. verbana.[9]

Conservation status

A 2010 study of data gathered four species proposed an IUCN status of near threatened for H. medicinalis, H. verbana, and H. orientalis, and a status of data deficient for H. troctina.[10]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: ITIS standard report: Hirudo (Linnaeus, 1758). . 21 August 2013.
  2. Celebrity with a neglected taxonomy: molecular systematics of the medicinal leech (genus Hirudo) . Trontelj . P . Utevsky . SY . Mol Phylogenet Evol . 2005 . 34 . 3 . 616–624 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2004.10.012 . 15683933.
  3. DeSalle. R.. Egan. M. G.. Siddall. M.. The unholy trinity: taxonomy, species delimitation and DNA barcoding. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 360. 1462. 2005. 1905–1916. 0962-8436. 10.1098/rstb.2005.1722. 16214748. 1609226.
  4. Saglam. N.. Saunders. R.. Lang. S. A.. Shain. D. H.. A new species of Hirudo (Annelida: Hirudinidae): historical biogeography of Eurasian medicinal leeches. BMC Zoology. 1. 1. 2016. 1–12. 2056-3132. 10.1186/s40850-016-0002-x. free.
  5. Orevi. Miriam. Eldor. Amiram. Giguzin. Ida. Rigbi. Meir. 2000-01-01. Jaw anatomy of the blood-sucking leeches, Hirudinea Limnatis nilotica and Hirudo medicinalis, and its relationship to their feeding habits. Journal of Zoology. en. 250. 1. 121–127. 10.1111/j.1469-7998.2000.tb00583.x. 1469-7998.
  6. Web site: Hirudo nipponia – Clitellates . BiotaTaiwanica Citellates . 17 December 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131217224700/http://clitellates.biota.biodiv.tw/pages/1131 . 17 December 2013 . dead.
  7. A new species of medicinal leech in the genus Hirudo Linnaeus, 1758 (Hirudiniformes, Hirudinidae) from Tianjin City, China . Wang. H . Meng . FM . Jin. SJ . Gao . JV . Tong . XR . Liu . ZC. Liu . 2022 . 1095. 83–96 . 10.3897/zookeys.1095.74071 . 35836684. free .
  8. Trontelj. Peter. Utevsky. Serge Y.. Phylogeny and phylogeography of medicinal leeches (genus Hirudo): Fast dispersal and shallow genetic structure. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 63. 2. 2012. 475–485. 1055-7903. 10.1016/j.ympev.2012.01.022. 22342869.
  9. Siddall . ME . Trontelj . P . Utevsky . SY . Nkamany . M . Macdonald . KS . Diverse molecular data demonstrate that commercially available medicinal leeches are not Hirudo medicinalis. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences . 2007 . 274 . 1617 . 1481–1487 . 10.1098/rspb.2007.0248 . 17426015 . 2176162.
  10. Utevsky. Serge. Zagmajster. Maja. Atemasov. Andrei. Zinenko. Oleksandr. Utevska. Olga. Utevsky. Andrei. Trontelj. Peter. Distribution and status of medicinal leeches (genus Hirudo) in the Western Palaearctic: anthropogenic, ecological, or historical effects?. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. 20. 2. 2010. 198–210. 1052-7613. 10.1002/aqc.1071.

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