{{Short description|Species of leech}} {{Speciesbox | taxon = Macrobdella diplotertia | authority = Meyer, 1975 }}
'''''Macrobdella diplotertia''''', the '''Ozark highlands leech''', is a species of leech found in the southern United States.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Macrobdella diplotertia Meyer 1975 - Encyclopedia of Life |url=https://eol.org/pages/401375 |access-date=2025-01-04 |website=eol.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Connior |first=M.B. |last2=Trauth |first2=S.E. |date=2010 |title=Seasonal Activity of the Ozark Highlands Leech, Macrobdella diplotertia (Annelida: Hirudinea) in North-central Arkansas |url=https://scholarworks.uark.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1379&context=jaas |journal=Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science |volume=64}}</ref>
''M. diplotertia'' was described in 1975 from Missouri, and has since been recorded from Kansas and Arkansas.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Poly |first=William J. |date=29 Mar 2018 |title=Range Extension for the Elusive New England Medicinal Leech, ''Macrobdella sestertia'' Whitman, 1886 (Hirudinida: Macrobdellidae), in South Carolina, U.S.A., with Notes on Morphology, Coloration, and Biology |url=https://www.calacademy.org/sites/default/files/assets/ibss/departments/ichthyology/poly_2018_pcas_v64_lr.compressed.pdf |journal=Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences |series=4 |volume=64 |issue=12}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Meyer |first=Marvin C. |date=July 1975 |title=A New Leech, ''Macrobdella diplotertia'' sp. n. (Hirudinea: Hirudinidae), from Missouri |url=https://www.bionames.org/bionames-archive/issn/0018-0130/42/82.pdf |journal=Proceedings of the Helminthological Society of Washington |volume=42 |issue=2}}</ref> It is believed to be the sister taxon to ''Macrobdella decora''.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last1=Phillips |first1=Anna J. |last2=Salas-Montiel |first2=Ricardo |last3=Kvist |first3=Sebastian |last4=Oceguera-Figueroa |first4=Alejandro |date=2019-08-15 |title=Phylogenetic Position and Description of a New Species of Medicinal Leech from the Eastern United States |url=https://bioone.org/journals/journal-of-parasitology/volume-105/issue-4/18-119/Phylogenetic-Position-and-Description-of-a-New-Species-of-Medicinal/10.1645/18-119.full |journal=Journal of Parasitology |volume=105 |issue=4 |pages=587–597 |doi=10.1645/18-119 |issn=0022-3395 |pmid=31414949|url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }}</ref> A diagnostic characteristic is the arrangement of the copulatory gland pores. The species can grow up to {{Convert|66|mm|in}} long.<ref name=":0" />
== References == {{Reflist}}{{Taxonbar|from=Q5154546}}{{Annelid-stub}}
Category:Animals described in 1975 Category:Invertebrates of the United States Category:Arhynchobdellida