Leech (Annelida: Hirudinea) Infestations on Canadian Turtles, Including the First Canadian Record of Helobdella modesta from Freshwater Turtles

Authors

  • Christina M. Davy Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Wilcocks St., Toronto Ontario M5S 3B2
  • Kum C. Shim Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Wilcocks St., Toronto Ontario M5S 3B2
  • Suzanne M. Coombes Porfell Wildlife Park and Sanctuary, Trecangate nr. Lanreath, Liskeard, Cornwall, PL14 4RE

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v123i1.673

Keywords:

leech parasitism, Chrysemys picta, Painted Turtle, Clemmys guttata, Spotted Turtle, Emydoidea blandingii, Blandings Turtle, Sternotherus odoratus, Stinkpot, Placobdella parasitica, Placobdella ornata, Helobdella modesta, Erpobdella punctata, Ontario

Abstract

We collected leeches from freshwater turtles at two sites in southwestern Ontario. Five leech species (Placobdella parasitica, P. ornata, Helobdella modesta, Erpobdella punctata and Alboglossiphonia heteroclita) were collected from five turtle species (Chrysemys picta, Chelydra serpentina, Clemmys guttata, Emydoidea blandingii and Sternotherus odoratus). We report a new leech record (P. ornata) for C. guttata. The unexpectedly high frequency of H. modesta on freshwater turtles is discussed.

Downloads

Issue

Vol. 123 No. 1 (2009)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright for Canadian Field-Naturalist content is held by the Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club, except for content published by employees of federal government departments, in which case the copyright is held by the Crown. In-copyright content available at the Biodiversity Heritage Library is available for re-use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence. For usage of content at the BHL for purposes other than those allowed under this licence, contact us.

 

To request use of copyright material,  please contact our editor, Dr. Dwayne Lepitzki: editor -at- canadianfieldnaturalist -dot- ca