1. A new freshwater leech species from Asian Swamp Eel stocks in China.
- Author
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Xu, Zhiwei, Yang, Chaodong, Gofarov, Mikhail Y., Eliseeva, Tatyana A., Kondakov, Alexander V., Yuan, Hanwen, Bolotov, Ivan N., and Yang, Daiqin
- Subjects
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LEECHES , *SWAMPS , *SPECIES , *EELS , *FRESH water - Abstract
Discoveries of new Hemiclepsis species (Hirudinea: Glossiphoniidae) in East and Southeast Asia were expected. A peculiar freshwater leech was found on the body surface of Asian Swamp Eel Monopterus albus (Synbranchiformes: Synbranchidae) in Jingzhou, Hubei Province, China. Here, we describe this leech species as Hemiclepsis yangtzenensissp. nov. It could be distinguished from other congeners based on a combination of morphological features such as very small size, translucent body with dense green reticulate markings throughout dorsum, very large posterior sucker with a characteristic reticulate pattern, and two pairs of well-developed drop-like eyespots. It also represents a phylogenetic lineage that is distant from other members of the genus based on the COI and 18S rRNA sequences. This leech species seems to be a specialized fish parasite that could negatively affect farming and wild stocks of Asian Swamp Eel in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
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