Bdelloura

Note: Introduced originally as a subgenus name by the American zoologist Joseph Leidy (1823-91) in "Helminthological Contributions.—No. 3," Meeting of August 26, 1851, Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. 5 (1850-51), pp. 239-44. Leidy footnotes the name with the explanation "bdella [Greek letters], a leech; oura [Greek letters, with omicron and upsilon written as a single letter]; because the animal adheres by the tail like a leech" (p. 241). The more regular Latinization would be Bdellura; it is uncertain if -o- is meant to be the combining vowel or a transliteration of Greek omicron.