Number of terrestrial leeches with human-bait method and environmental variables in peninsular Malaysia

This is the data on the number of terrestrial leeches (brown Haemadipsa sp.) collected and environmental variables at the sampling site in Endau Rompin National Park in Malaysia. We investigated relative abundance of terrestrial leeches repeatedly at 99 sampling points in the tourism area of ERNP from February 2019 to September 2020. We counted the number of leeches at each sampling point based on the human-bait method, wherein the researcher is considered as the bait (Schnell et al. 2015, Fahmy et al. 2019). To activate the leeches before sampling, the leaf litter was blown upon and stirred with a twig in a 1.5-m radius from the sampling point. A researcher then stood at the sampling point and collected all the leeches attracted and attached to the body in a five-minute sampling session (Kendall, 2012). We collected the leeches in a vial and measured the diameter of the sucking cup of each individual as a proxy for leech size: <1.5 mm = small, 1.5–3.0 mm = medium, and >3.0 mm = l...