''Americobdella'' is a genus of carnivorous

leech Leeches are segmented parasitic or predatory worms that comprise the subclass Hirudinea within the phylum Annelida. They are closely related to the oligochaetes, which include the earthworm, and like them have soft, muscular segmented bodie ...

es from southern

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, comprising only the species ''Americobdella valdiviana''.

Taxonomy

Philippi, who originally classified ''A. valdiviana'' as an erpobdellid leech, noted that ''Americobdella valdiviana'' was similar to '' Trocheta'' (now synonymized with ''Erpobdella'') "in both appearance and habit". It is phylogenically between two major groups of leeches, the

Rhynchobdellida Rhynchobdellida (from the Greek ''rhynchos'', mouth, and ''bdellein'', sucking), the jawless leeches or freshwater leeches, are an order of aquatic leeches. Despite the common name "freshwater leeches", species are found in both sea and fresh wat ...

and the Arhynchobdellida. Recent work has suggested ''A. valdiviana'' is more closely related to the

Erpobdelliformes The Erpobdelliformes are one of the currently-accepted suborders of the proboscisless leeches (Arhynchobdellida). It includes five families: * Americobdellidae * Erpobdellidae Blanchard, 1894 * Gastrostomobdellidae Richardson, 1971 *Orobdellid ...

than the

Hirudiniformes The Hirudiniformes are one of the currently-accepted suborders of the proboscisless leeches (Arhynchobdellida). Their best-known member is the European medical leech, ''Hirudo medicinalis'', and indeed most of the blood-sucking "worms" as which l ...

Description

''Americobdella valdiviana'' is a

predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

and has only rudimentary jaws. Because of these features, it was originally classified as an erpobdellid leech. ''A. valdiviana'' is grey-coloured on the dorsal side with a yellowish ventral side. Whether eyes are present in this species is a matter of debate. While Philippi originally described ''Americobdella valdiviana'' as having no eyes, other authors have indicated that eyes are indeed present.

Diet

''A. valdiviana'' feeds on

earthworm An earthworm is a terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. They exhibit a tube-within-a-tube body plan; they are externally segmented with corresponding internal segmentation; and they usually have setae on all segments. Th ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4745684 Leeches Monotypic protostome genera Endemic fauna of Chile