Hirudo

Hirudo is a genus of leeches of the family Hirudinidae. It was described by Linnaeus in 1758.<ref name=itis">"ITIS standard report: Hirudo (Linnaeus, 1758)". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 21 August 2013. </ref>

There are two well-accepted species within the genus:^[1]

• Hirudo medicinalis Linnaeus, 1758
• Hirudo nipponia Whitman, 1886

Three other species, previously synonymized with Hirudo medicinalis, were described in 2005 and are gaining acceptance:^[1][2]

• Hirudo verbana
• Hirudo orientalis
• Hirudo troctina

Distribution

Hirudo medicinalis: Britain and southern Norway to the southern Urals, probably as far as the Altai Mountains (the deciduous arboreal zone)^[3]
Hirudo verbana: Switzerland and Italy to Turkey and Uzbekistan (the Mediterranean and sub-boreal steppe zone)^[3]
Hirudo orientalis: Transcaucasian countries, Iran, and Central Asia (mountainous areas in the sub-boreal eremial zone)^[3]
Hirudo troctina: North-western Africa and Spain (Mediterranean zone)^[3]
Hirudo nipponia: East Asia, including Far East district in Russian, Japan, Korea, China, Mongolia, Ryukyu Islands and Taiwan^[4]

H. verbana is further divided into non-overlapping Eastern and Western phylogroups.^[5]

Medical Use

While H. medicinalis has long been used in hirudology, 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.^[6]

Conservation Status

A 2010 study of data gathered four species proposed an IUCN status of Near Threatened for H. medicinal is, H. verbana, and H. orientalis, and a status of Data Deficient for Hirudo troctina.^[3]

References