Hirudo

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. The two well-accepted species within the genus are: Hirudo medicinalis Linnaeus, 1758 Hirudo nipponia Whitman, 1886 Three other species, previously synonymized with H. medicinalis, were described in 2005 and are gaining acceptance: Hirudo verbana Hirudo orientalis Hirudo sulukii Hirudo troctina Hirudo tianjinensis