Re: [vernalpool] Leeches on dragonfly larvae and beetle

Ahhh... No. Interesting, though! How little we know...

Matt

On Fri, Jun 29, 2012 at 4:11 PM, atoz04 <ottertrk95@buckeye-express.com>wrote:

> **
>
>
> Hi all,
>
> Two weeks ago was our yearly night monitoring at a vernal pool and we
> found something very unexpected. First, there were many more leeches active
> than normal. Second, we found four leeches "hitch-hiking" on dragonfly
> larvae and a predaceous diving beetle. The latter initally just had one
> leech on it, but in the next half hour a second one latched on.
>
> I've uploaded pictures of this to the photos section with the same title
> as this message subject. The pictures could be better, but this was flash
> photography at night.
>
> I'm at a loss to explain this. A local naturalist showed the pictures
> during a state-wide Odonata conference and there was deep silence from all
> the participants - none of them had ever seen this before.
>
> It's a very large vernal pool and even with the drought there is still 2-3
> feet of water in the pool, so it's not a case of the leeches wanting to
> find another pool.
>
> I've been running a 5-8 month vernal pool survey for 9 years and i've
> never seen this before. Have any of you? Ever heard of it before? Any help
> or comments would be most welcome!
>
> Eileen
>
>
>


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