Freshwater Jawless Leeches
Glossiphoniidae
Glossiphoniidae are the family called freshwater jawless leeches or glossiphoniids. They are one of the main groups of Rhynchobdellida, true leeches with a proboscis. These leeches are generally flattened, and have a poorly defined anterior sucker. Most suck the blood of freshwater vertebrates like amphibians and aquatic turtles, but some feed on the hemolymph of invertebrates like oligochaetes and freshwater snails instead.
19 branches of this family, most-observed first
Placobdella
genusPlacobdella
Helobdella
genusHelobdella
Glossiphonia
genusGlossiphonia
Theromyzon
genusTheromyzon
Alboglossiphonia
genusAlboglossiphonia
Hemiclepsis
genusHemiclepsis
Haementeria
genusHaementeria
Torix
genusTorix
Orientobdelloides
genusOrientobdelloides
Placobdelloides
genusPlacobdelloides
Batracobdella
genusBatracobdella
Marsupiobdella
genusMarsupiobdella
Marvinmeyeria
genusMarvinmeyeria
Batracobdelloides
genusBatracobdelloides
Palaemobdella
genusPalaemobdella
Paraclepsis
genusParaclepsis
Oosthuizobdella
genusOosthuizobdella
Oligobdella
genusOligobdella
Actinobdella
genusActinobdella
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Glossiphoniidae in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 128529.