Glossiphoniid Molecular Phylogeny Project Glossiphoniid Phylogeny Project Brood of hatchling Haementeria ghilianii attached to venter of parent. Although phylogenetic analyses of leeches have been conducted at the higher taxonomic level, there have been no intra-familial studies of these annelids. I and 654 bp of mitochondrial nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase subunit 1. Three species from the family Piscicolidae and one species from the family Ozobranchidae served as outgroup taxa. Cladistic analysis resulted in one most-parsimonious tree.
Results also provide insight into several problematic genus-level classifications.
For example, the elimination of the genus Desserobdella may be necessary, and relationships of the genera Placobdella and Haementeria are clarified. Blood feeding is seen to be a primitive characteristic but has been lost twice within the clade. The hypothesis that the biannulate leech, Oligobdella biannulata, represents an important transitional form is re-evaluated in a phylogenetic context. The total evidence data set is available too.