Department of Zoology at ANDC/Zoology Museum/Museum specimens/Annelida/Hirudinaria

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{|cellpadding="5" cellspacing="6" style="width:100%;background:#FFFFFF; border-style:solid; border-width:3px; border-color:#0066FF;" Date & Time : 28, August 2024      
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Common name:- Indian cattle leech.

Habit and habitat:- It is a fresh water species, sanguivorous ectoparasite, lives in ponds, lakes and swamos.

Distribution:- cosmopolitan distribution. But mainly found in India and Burma.

Food:- It feeds on blood of frog, animals and men.

IDENTIFYING CHARACTERS:-


 * Body- Body is soft, vermiform and dorsoventrally flattened, elongated and segmented
 * Body lenght- It is about 30-35 cm long.
 * Segments- It consists of 33 segments. Each segment is furthe diivided into 5 annuli.
 * Body division- Body is divided into cephalic, preclitellar, clitellar, middle, caudal and posterior sucker regions.
 * Suckers- Ther are two types of well developed suckers namely


 * 1) Anterior sucker
 * 2) Posterior sucker


 * Anterior suckers- It is oval in shape and formed by the fusion of prostomium and few anterior segments. It contain tri-radiate mouth.
 * Posterior sucker- It acts as powerful locomotary and adhesive organ. It is highly muscular.
 * It also contain eyes ( 5 pairs), receptor organs ( 7 pairs- 4 pair dorsal and 3 pair ventral).
 * Anus- It is located on 26th segment.
 *  Hermaphrodite. Sexual reproduction occurs.