Macrobdella decora, the North American medicinal leech, is a species of freshwater leech found in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. A medium-sized annelid growing up to 8.5 cm (3.3 in) long, it has a spotted greenish-brown back and a reddish underbelly. M. decora is commonly encountered by swimmers and lives in ponds, ditches, and wetlands. The leeches are both blood-sucking parasites and aggressive predators. They have three saw-like "jaws" which they use to penetrate their host's skin, and they can remain attached for up to two hours. Their hosts include fish, turtles, wading birds, and mammals, including humans. The leeches are also voracious predators who eat other invertebrates, amphibian eggs and larvae, and sometimes even members of their own species. M. decora was historically used for leeching by European colonists in North America, who found the native leeches "equally efficacious" as those from Europe. (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrobdella_decora> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1940: Second World War: British and Commonwealth forces began Operation Compass, the first major Allied military operation of the Western Desert campaign. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Compass> 1965: A large, brilliant fireball was seen by thousands in midwestern North America before landing in Kecksburg, Pennsylvania. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kecksburg_UFO_incident> 1979: A World Health Organization commission of scientists certified the global eradication of smallpox (virus pictured), making it the only human infectious disease to date to have been completely eradicated. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox> 1990: In Serbia's first multi-party election, Slobodan Milošević won the presidential election and the Socialist Party of Serbia won the majority of seats in the National Assembly. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_Serbian_general_election> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: retrofuturistic: Of or relating to how the future was inaccurately imagined in the past; resembling an outdated vision of the future. <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/retrofuturistic> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: Civil Society is a cluster of institutions and associations strong enough to prevent tyranny, but which are, none the less, entered and left freely, rather than imposed by birth or sustained by awesome ritual. --Ernest Gellner <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ernest_Gellner> _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list. To unsubscribe write to: [email protected] Questions or comments? Contact [email protected]
