| Hirudo | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Annelida |
| Clade: | Pleistoannelida |
| Clade: | Sedentaria |
| Class: | Clitellata |
| Subclass: | Hirudinea |
| Order: | Arhynchobdellida |
| Family: | Hirudinidae |
| Genus: | Hirudo Linnaeus, 1758 |
| Type species | |
| Hirudo medicinalis[1] Linnaeus, 1758
| |
Hirudo is a genus of leeches of the family Hirudinidae. It was described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.[2]
The two well-accepted species within the genus are:[3]
- Hirudo medicinalis Linnaeus, 1758
- Hirudo nipponia Whitman, 1886
Three other species, previously synonymized with H. medicinalis, were described in 2005 and are gaining acceptance:[3][4][5]
- ^ International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (1922). "Opinion 75. Twenty-Seven Generic Names of Protozoa, Vermes, Pisces, Reptilia and Mammalia Included in the Official List of Zoological Names". Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. 73 (1): 35–37.
- ^ "ITIS standard report: Hirudo (Linnaeus, 1758)". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
- ^ a b Trontelj, P; Utevsky, SY (2005). "Celebrity with a neglected taxonomy: molecular systematics of the medicinal leech (genus Hirudo)". Mol Phylogenet Evol. 34 (3): 616–624. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.10.012. PMID 15683933.
- ^ DeSalle, R.; Egan, M. G.; Siddall, M. (2005). "The unholy trinity: taxonomy, species delimitation and DNA barcoding". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 360 (1462): 1905–1916. doi:10.1098/rstb.2005.1722. ISSN 0962-8436. PMC 1609226. PMID 16214748.
- ^ Saglam, N.; Saunders, R.; Lang, S. A.; Shain, D. H. (2016). "A new species of Hirudo (Annelida: Hirudinidae): historical biogeography of Eurasian medicinal leeches". BMC Zoology. 1 (1): 1–12. doi:10.1186/s40850-016-0002-x. ISSN 2056-3132.