A STUDY ON THE ANATOMY FEATURES OF GREEN AND DARK BROWN BUFFALO LEECH (HIRUDINEA MANILLENSIS)

Abstract

Leeches (Phylum: Annelida, Class: Hirudinea) are widely distributed all over the world in diverse habitats. In this study, the anatomy and features of Hirudinae manillensis or buffalo leech were observed and recorded. The external and internal anatomy of the leech was identifed to know if there exist any differences between the green buffalo leech and the dark brown buffalo leech. The internal and external anatomy features both green and dark brown leeches were similar. The external anatomy features observed were; body pattern, colour of the body, size of the body, size of the sucker, body length and width, mouth, number of teeth and eyes, absence of papillae and number of annuli while the internal anatomy features observed were; organ such as crop, rectum, male and female reproductive organ and testes sack can be found. In contrast, the colour and pattern of the dorsal and the abdominal was different between the dark brown buffalo leeches and the green buffalo leeches. The Green leech had simple pattern with 5 stripes from a combination of 3 different colours namely green, brown and black, while the dark brown leech had a much more complex pattern with square shapes pattern on the dorsal.