Diverse Blood Suckers

Commercially available medicinal leeches used around the world since the time of Hippocrates have been mislabeled. Until now, the leeches were considered to be the species Hirudo medicinalis (top of image), but genetic analyses reveal they are a distinct species, Hirudo verbana (bottom of image).

The study, detailed in the April 10, online edition of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, also suggests that wild European medicinal leeches are at least three distinct species, not one.

The research has implications for conservationists as well as those in the medical field. The saliva of medicinal leeches contains anticoagulant, and for that reason in 2004 the FDA approved use of the segmented worms in helping restore blood flow after surgery.

"This raises the tantalizing prospect of three times the number of anticoagulants, and three times as many biomedically important developments in areas like protease inhibitors," said study leader Mark Siddall of the American Museum of Natural History. "However, it will also require a better effort to conserve these much-maligned animals, in a way that takes into account their impressive diversity."

--LiveScience Staff

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Credit: Andrei Utevsky