The identification and taxonomy of Placobdella papillifera (Verrill, 1872) Moore, 1952 have been blurred by its varieties and have been compounded by the apparent lack of type material. Leeches collected from May 2008 through August 2012 from West River, New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut, the type locality of Clepsine papillifera Verrill, 1872, were consistant with P. papillifera (Verrill, 1872) Moore 1952 as described by Verrill (1872). The acquisition of these specimens from the type locality facilitated redescription of P. papillifera. A neotype is designated to stabilize the concept of P. papillifera. Placobdella papillifera appears to exhibit relatively low host specificity, having been documented on Chrysemys picta, Chelydra serpentina, Sternotherus odoratus and Homo sapiens in this study. Molecular comparison of CO-I sequence data from P. papillifera revealed differences of 15% from Placobdella ornata, 16% from P. rugosa, 18% from P. ali, 17% from P. multilineata and 14% from P. parasitica.