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Updated: Aug 29, 2025

Intracellular Recording, Sensory Field Mapping, and Culturing Identified Neurons in the Leech, Hirudo medicinalis
Published on: November 4, 2013
Placobdella akahkway n. sp. (Clitellata: Hirudinea: Glossiphoniidae), a new leech species from central Canada
Sophia L Fan1, Danielle DE Carle2, Sebastian Kvist3
1Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queens Park, Toronto, ON M5S 2C6, Canada 2Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, ON M5S 2B4, Canada. sophia.fan@alum.utoronto.ca.
Abstract:
The leech genus Placobdella harbours 24 currently-recognized species, and only a handful of new species has been described in the past decade. Placobdella akahkway n. sp., a new species of ectoparasitic glossiphoniid leech is herein described from sites in the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, Canada. Beyond morphological description of the species, a total of 21 specimens (including the five specimens from the type series) were also employed in a phylogenetic analysis using the COI locus. The new species can be distinguished from its congeners by its possession of both compact and diffuse salivary glands. The included specimens of Placobdella akahkway n. sp. form a monophyletic group with high support, and place as the sister taxon to Placobdella kwetlumye.
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