The leech Haemopis lateromaculata (Hirudinea: Haemopidae): Its North America distribution and additional notes on species description

Abstract

The geographic range of Haemopis lateromaculata Mathers 1963 (Hirudinea: Haemopidae) is extended across North America. Its distribution in the coastal region of Alaska and British Columbia suggests a coastal Pleistocene refugia separate from the populations in the lower United States and suggests that H. lateromaculata and the Eurasian H. sanguisuga Linnaeus 1758 are sister taxa. Support of me identification and geography is based on the anatomical positions of the reproductive organs in H. lateromaculata and H. marmorata Say 1824. The variations within these species are described, noting that no specific variation was confined to a geographical region.