Theromyzon tessulatum (O.F. Müller, 1774)

Ahmed, Raja Ben, Romdhane, Yasmina & Tekaya, Saïda, 2015, Checklist and Distribution of Marine and freshwater leeches (Annelida, Clitellata, Hirudinea) in Tunisia with identification key, Ecologica Montenegrina 2 (1), pp. 3-19 : 8-9

Theromyzon tessulatum (O.F. Müller, 1774)

( Fig. 2E)

Diagnosis: The body is dorsoventrally flattened and nearly translucent. The colour of living specimens is green to grey. The dorsal body surface shows four rows of longitudinal papillae. The head bears four pairs of eyes and the genital pores are separated by four annuli. The species is known as bloodsucker of birds.

Habitat: Found under stones, it seems to prefer stagnant or slow flowing water bodies most often of artificial origin such as drainage basins. The presence of aquatic birds appears to be important.

Distribution: This species was described as Hirudo tessulata from Lake Frederiksdahl, Denmark. Soós (1969) and Minelli (1979) reported it from the Palaearctic region and South America. In the Middle East, T. tessulatum was reported in Palestine and Lebanon by Blanchard (1893) and Moore (1944). Bromley (1994), in his investigation in the Middle East, did not find this leech and suggested that it may have disappeared in this region. Recently, Jueg (2008 a) has collected it in Central Asia ( Kyrgyzstan) and Spain. The species was already reported by Johansson (1927) in Spain.

In Tunisia ( Fig. 5D), this species was recorded in the North East of the country in the governorate of Nabeul in two stations: Lebna drainage basin (36.44326N, 010.5525,5E) by Ben Ahmed et al. (2008a) and in Port Prince drainage basin (36.51162N, 10.39404E) (this study) .