The leech family Glossiphoniidae is a diverse group with representatives found in freshwater habitats on all continents except Antarctica. Glossiphoniid leeches are members of the order Rhynchobdellida which is characterized by the presence of a proboscis for feeding from the blood of vertebrates or the haemolymph of invertebrates. Also, glossiphoniid species are characterized as the only annelids that brood their eggs and carry their young under their dorso-ventrally flattened bodies. This unique family of leeches exhibiting such marked parental care has several important implications.
Glossiphoniid leeches are both ecologically and economically important.
In spite of this broad ecological and parasitological importance, identification and classification has been problematic. Identifying glossiphoniid leeches has been difficult due to ambiguous, incomplete, and inaccurate descriptions, lack of appropriate observations, and use of obsolete nomenclature. Once there is an established system, determining relationships between glossiphoniid species is expected to be less difficult. Representatives of this subfamily have one to three pairs of eyes. There also is overlap of characters between subfamilies.