FIGURE 14 in Description and taxonomic analysis of a tuberculated turtle leech from the Outer Banks, North Carolina, USA, provisionally identified as Placobdella multilineata Moore, 1953 (Hirudinea: Glossiphoniidae)

FIGURE 14. First feeding in the Albemarle turtle leech. Shown are three pre-juvenile individuals collected soon after taking their first blood meal on a turtle host. Their teguments are still transparent and the body shape is cylindroid. A, 5.0 mm (PM-11a) on Chelydra serpentina. B, 8.3 mm (PM-26) on Chrysemys floridana. C, 7.8 mm (PM-24a) on Kinosternum odoratus. Specimen A was collected within hours of first feeding and already had diluted blood in its crop. The intermediate rows of tubercles on the a2 annulus were discernible but do not show up in this image. In specimen B the tip of its lengthy proboscis protrudes from the apical mouth. The darkened rectum indicates some digestion of blood had already occurred. This correlates with the faintly pigmented tegument of this specimen. In specimen C the crooked proboscis and compact salivary glands are visibly well developed at this stage. Scale bars: 0.5 mm.