Horse sails
| Horse sails | ||||||||||||
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Horse leech ( Haemopis sanguisuga ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Haemopis sanguisuga | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The haemopis sanguisuga ( Haemopis sanguisuga ) is a type of the subclass of the flukes (Hirudinea) and is among the pine Egeln (Gnathobdelliformes).
features
The species often has a length of more than ten centimeters (stretched up to 15 cm) and is thus similar in size to the medicinal leech ( Hirudo medicinalis ), with which it is often confused. There are five pairs of eyes on the front and side of the head. The color of the upper side is brownish - sometimes with darker spots - or blackish; red vertical stripes are missing. The underside is colored yellow-gray to green, irregularly darkly spotted and only occasionally limited by yellowish side bands. As with other leeches, the number of visible transverse curls does not correspond to the number of segments that make up the body (33), but they are much more numerous.
Occurrence and way of life
The habitat of the horse leech is stagnant and slowly flowing water. The species occurs throughout Europe as well as in North Africa. It does not suck blood, the teeth of the jaw (two rows of 14 teeth each) are too weak for this. Instead, the horse leech feeds on various aquatic animals, which it devours. The prey spectrum includes insect larvae, worms, fry as well as spawning and larvae of amphibians . Long periods between meals can be survived without eating.
The animals move both crawling - with the help of their two suction cups on the ends of their bodies - and swimming freely with snaking movements. Sometimes horse sails leave the water. Egg cocoons are deposited in moist soil near the shore. These are up to an inch in size.
Naming
Both the German language and the scientific name derived from Greek and Latin are misleading. Haemopis sanguisuga means something like "blood-thirsty bloodsucker", although the species does not belong to the ectoparasitic , blood-sucking leeches. The term "horse leech" is based on a confusion with the horse leech ( Limnatis nilotica ) native to the Mediterranean area . This can enter the nasal cavities, throat and esophagus of cattle, horses etc. at cattle troughs and get stuck there.
supporting documents
- Wolfgang Engelhardt: What lives in pools, brooks and ponds? Kosmos-Franckh, Stuttgart 1986 (12th edition), p. 122ff. ISBN 3-440-05444-6
- Herbert W. Ludwig: Animals and plants of our waters . BLV Verlagsgesellschaft, Munich 2003, p. 144. ISBN 3-405-16487-7
- Peter Rietschel (arr.): Articulated worms . Cape. 12 in: Grzimeks Tierleben, Vol. 1: Lower animals. Licensed edition in dtv, Munich 1979, p. 385f. ISBN 3-423-03203-0
- Lexicon of Biology. Vol. 4, Herder-Verlag, Freiburg 1985, p. 151. ISBN 3-451-19644-1
Web links
- Haemopis sanguisuga at Fauna Europaea