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Project Noah Nature School
Phylum Annelida Subclass Hirudinea
This little terrestrial leech was about 20mm long and about 3mm wide. He was a deep brown with turquoise coloured linear markings.
Damp eucalyptus forests
This little guy was begging to have his picture taken for PN. He was one of many that crawled up onto my arms and legs while I was looking for mushrooms. You can see the rim of his rear sucker in pic #2 ( broad end)
Spotted on Mar 12, 2012
Submitted on Mar 14, 2012
4 Comments
Oh my - your childhood experience was worse! But you handled it admirably, keeping cool and taking photos to document - that's great!
.....all for the sake of science and nature !!
Nopayahnah, My reaction would have been much like yours if I had remembered about leeches being common among damp vegetation ! - by the time I discovered them my legs and arms had quite a few. Short of taking my jeans off in public, I did everything I could to keep them off my skin...I was a little girl when I fell into a forest stream and got washed down some distance. When they managed to get me out of the water I was covered with leeches !! -now, does that make you feel good?
Oh, these freak me out! Ever since I saw the movie African Queen as a child. And then my father came home from a lake outing one day with leaches all over his legs. I think you are brave not minding them on you. (I know, my reaction is overblown, but that's what my childhood left me with.)