’It has been a big year for leeches. A new species was discovered near Washington and announced in August by Anna
Phillips, who may have the world’s best job title: curator of parasitic worms at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

…Although insects are very big in the blood-feeding world, leeches occupy a special place in the human imagination — somewhere between vampire bats and that tiny fish that was once reputed to swim up the human urethra.
Image…’

Via New York Times