''Hirudo orientalis'' is a species of
medicinal leech. It has been confused with ''
Hirudo medicinalis
''Hirudo medicinalis'', the European medicinal leech, is one of several species of leeches used as "medicinal leeches".
Other species of ''Hirudo'' sometimes also used as medicinal leeches include '' H. orientalis'', ''H. troctina'', and '' H. ...
'', but has recently been recognized as a different species.
[Utevsky, S. Y., & Trontelj, P. (2005). A new species of the medicinal leech (Oligochaeta, Hirudinida, Hirudo) from Transcaucasia and an identification key for the genus Hirudo. Parasitology research, 98(1), 61-66]
DOI: 10.1007/s00436-005-0017-7
/ref>[Siddall, M. E., Trontelj, P., Utevsky, S. Y., Nkamany, M., & Macdonald, K. S. (2007). Diverse molecular data demonstrate that commercially available medicinal leeches are not Hirudo medicinalis. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 274(1617), 1481-1487]
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2007.0248
/ref> This Asian species is associated with mountainous areas in the subboreal eremial zone and occurs in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...
, Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...
and Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
. It occurs also in Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
, and probably in Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...
.[Utevsky, S., Zagmajster, M., Atemasov, A., Zinenko, O., Utevska, O., Utevsky, A., & Trontelj, P. (2010). Distribution and status of medicinal leeches (genus ''Hirudo'') in the Western Palaearctic: anthropogenic, ecological, or historical effects?. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 20(2), 198-21]
DOI: 10.1002/aqc.1071
/ref>
Morphology
External characters
Length up to 108 mm, width of maximum body 10 mm, width of anterior sucker 4 mm, width of posterior sucker 5.5 mm. Gonopores are separated by five annuli. There are complete somite fiveannulate. Body surface is covered with numerous papillae. There are five eye pairs. Sulcus is present as a narrow and distinct groove running from the crypt of the median dorsal jaw to the dorsal rim of the anterior sucker. Dorsal surface color is mainly grass green, there are two orange paramedian stripes which are thin and fragmented and two orange paramarginal stripes which are broad and encompassing black segmentally arranged quadrangular or rounded spots. Lateral margins of body with yellow stripes encompassing black, segmentally arranged rounded spots. Black spots are located on the central annulus (a2) of each segment. Ventral region is mainly black, with metameric pairs of light greenish markings.
Internal characters
Jaws and teeth: This species has three jaws, as is typical for a medicinal leech, which are monostichodont and bearing papillae. The papillae do not have any pores or fissures. Each jaw has 80 (min: 71 – max: 91) teeth; each tooth's average size is 33 µm[Kovalenko, M. V., & Utevsky, S. Y. (2015). Comparative structural analysis of jaws of selected blood-feeding and predacious arhynchobdellid leeches (Annelida: Clitellata: Hirudinida). Zoomorphology, 134(1), 33-43]
DOI: 10.1007/s00435-014-0245-4
/ref>
Male reproductive system: Atrium is large, bulbous with a glandular cover and located at ganglion in segment XI. Penis sheath is long broad duct bent anteriorly, not reaching ganglion in segment XII. Epididymis are medium-sized, discoid, tightly packed masses of ducting standing upright on either side of the atrium and located between ganglia in segments XI and XII. Ejaculatory bulbs are fusiform, well developed, and not larger than epididymes the dorsocefalic faces of which they circle. Vas deferens is thin ducts running from epididymis posteriorly. Testisacs is ovoid, approximately 1.5 times the size of ovisacs and located posterior to ganglion in segment XIII.
Female reproductive system: Vagina has an upright, long, evenly curved tube entering directly into ventral body wall posterior to ganglion in XII. Common oviduct enters the vagina subterminally at a small vaginal caecum. Ovisacs are globular, small. Common oviduct has a thin duct forming several loops and covered with a thick layer of glandular tissue bound to the cephalic face of vagina. Entire female reproductive system located between ganglia XII and XIII.
Reproduction properties
The mature individuals deposit average 2.53 cocoons within one month. Each cocoon has averagely 8.55 hatchlings. According to these figures, ''H. orientalis'' deposite more cocoon than ''H. medicinalis'' (1.65), but less than ''Hirudo verbana'' (3.29). Hatchlings number per cocoon is also medium compared to the previous species (''H. medicinalis'': 6.73, ''H. verbana'': 10.45)[Petrauskienė, L., Utevska, O., & Utevsky, S. (2009). Can different species of medicinal leeches (''Hirudo'' spp.) interbreed?. Invertebrate Biology, 128(4), 324-331]
DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-7410.2009.00180.x
/ref>
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q18580528
Leeches
Animals described in 2005