Tigers!

One of the thing I dread during hiking/photo trips are Leeches especially Tiger Leeches - Haemadipsa picta. During this trip to Palawan, we encountered loads of them especially at night after rain. On one particular night, we had to stop every 4-5 steps to check our shoes, legs and hands for them and usually there are more than 10 of them crawling on us!

comments (2)

Ferdy Christant

Lion

Ugh! I've only dealt with small ones so far. How big are these? "Tiger" sounds...intimidating. Posted 7 years ago
1. Albert Kang
  
  Lion
  
  They are not very big, ranging from 1 cm to 4 cm or a bit longer.
  However, their bites may cause swelling and itchiness that can last for weeks or even months! Posted 7 years ago

The Haemadipsa picta

''Haemadipsa picta'' is a large terrestrial leech found in Borneo, Indochina, and Taiwan. It was described by John Percy Moore based on specimens collected from Sarawak, Borneo. It preys primarily on medium- to large-sized mammals, including humans.

Info 6 1

Similar species: Proboscisless Leeches

Species identified by Albert Kang