Notes on a population of the leech, Glossiphonia heteroclita, infesting Lymnaea pereger

Abstract

L. pereger often harbored this leech in its mantle cavity. Records were kept of the number of leeches found on each snail in samples taken from a small reservoir in Wales for more than 2 yrs. Probably the leech is an annual, living on the snail during the winter and becoming free living during its breeding season, and that the life history of the leech and the snail are closely synchronized.