---
title: "Smooth Turtle Leech"
description: "Placobdella parasitica — Weitere Tiere. Placobdella parasitica is a species of leech found in North America."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/de/animal/smooth-turtle-leech
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Smooth Turtle Leech

> Placobdella parasitica — Weitere Tiere. Placobdella parasitica is a species of leech found in North America.

- Scientific name: *Placobdella parasitica*
- Category: `other` (Weitere Tiere)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (See & Fluss)
- iNaturalist observations: 3325
- Wikidata: [Q5169854](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5169854)
- iNaturalist taxon: [134111](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/134111)

## Names

- en: Smooth Turtle Leech
- fr: Sangsue lisse des tortues

## Countries with the most observations

US (1839), CA (392)

## Summary

Placobdella parasitica is a species of leech found in North America. Leeches are habitual ectoparasites of vertebrates in aquatic environments. Placobdella parasitica is differentiated from other members of the genus Placobdella by its smooth dorsal surface, simple to complicated pigmentation, and abdomen with 8 to 12 stripes.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placobdella_parasitica

## Photo

![Smooth Turtle Leech](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/smooth-turtle-leech/medium.jpg)

Photo: Alexandra Gillespie · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/27666076

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/smooth-turtle-leech?lang=de` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).