Sinospelaeobdella wulingensis Liu, Huang, and Liu, 2019

Huang, Taifu, Liu, Zhiwei, Gong, Xiaoyan, Wu, Tao, Liu, Hui, Deng, Jiaxin, Zhang, Youxiang, Peng, Qingzhong, Zhang, Libiao & Liu, Zhixiao, 2019, Vampire in the darkness: a new genus and species of land leech exclusively bloodsucking cave-dwelling bats from China (Hirudinda: Arhynchobdellida: Haemadipsidae), Zootaxa 4560 (2), pp. 257-272 : 263-266

Sinospelaeobdella wulingensis Liu, Huang, and Liu sp. n.

( Figs 2C , 3A , 4 )

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:E70EA940-DB1C-4ED8-95F4-04E46D14383A

Etymology: The specific name is derived from the type locality in “Wuling Mountains”, a mountain range stretching from western Hunan Province to eastern Guizhou Province and southeastern Hubei Province of China.

Holotype: Adult , intact, undissected. Shuiniu cave, Jishou city, Hunan, China, March 2017, leg. Huang, Taifu, coordinates 28°21′43″N, 109°48′33″E, 379 m a.s.l. ( HNSND1 ).

Paratypes: 20 adults, intact, undissected: 5 adults ( HNSND2–6 ), Shuiniu cave , Jishou city, Hunan, China, December 2016, leg. Huang, Taifu, coordinates 28°21′43″N, 109°48′33″E, 379 m a.s.l. ; 5 adults ( HNTLD1–5 ), Tangle Cave , Jishou City, Hunan, China, December 2016, leg. Huang, Taifu, coordinates 28°18′9″N, 109°39′2″E, 337 m a.s.l. ; 5 adults ( HNJZPD1–5 ), Jiuzhaiping Cave , Jishou City, Hunan, China, December 2016, leg. Huang, Taifu, coordinates 28°17′17″N, 109°38′56″E, 377 m a.s.l. ; 5 adults ( HNJJD1–5 ), Jinji Cave , Yongshun County, Hunan, China, 2017-06, leg. Huang, Taifu, coordinates 28°46′52″N, 110°14′6″E, 906 m a.s.l.

Diagnosis: Bloodsucking land leech, medium body size, approximately long conical, lack of pigment and stripe. Eyes five pairs, second pair is the largest, fifth pair present and smallest. Testisacs in ten pairs, first pair of testes situated in XIII/XIV, dorsal to vas deferens. Crop ceca 14 pairs; last annulus with a large hemispherical projection with anus on top. Caudal sucker diameter greater than maximum body breadth, dorsally with one pair of auricular projection and about 78 friction rays; friction rays indistinct ventrally.

Description: Body length 22.70± 5.02 mm (n = 21), anterior (oral) sucker breadth 2.30± 0.35 mm, maximum body breadth 4.27± 0.72 mm, posterior (caudal) sucker diameter 5.36± 0.73 mm. Caudal sucker diameter 1.2 times greater than maximum body breadth.

Body medium in size, roughly long conical, dorsally slightly convex, ventrally flattened. Body rather small in anterior 1/3, smallest posterior to head and widest in 2/3. Head and sucker whitish opaque and otherwise dark red or black, obviously due to host blood ingested; specimens preserved in alcohol creamy white. Surface of body lacking pigmentation or stripes, dorsally and ventrally. Annuli with papillae and sensilla dorsally, and indistinctly so ventrally.

Entire body with 27 somites and 94 annuli in total. Somites I–IV 1-annulate; somite V 2 -annulate; somites VI– VII 3 -annulate; somite VIII 4 -annulate; somites IX–XXII 5-annulate (b1+b2+a2+b5+b6); somite XXIII 3-annulate [b1+b2+(a2+a3)]; somites XXIV 2-annulate; somites XXV–XXVII singularly annulate. Edge of anterior sucker lamelliform; mouth large. A large auricular projection present on each side of somite XXV. Last annulus dorsally with a very large median hemispherical projection; anus located at middle of a transverse depression on top of projection. Caudal sucker nearly circular, dorsally with 3 rows of papillae and about 78 friction rays; friction rays indistinct ventrally.

Three jaws present (trignathous), tall and pyramidal, median jaw larger than lateral jaws, teeth of jaws tiny and indistinct; salivary papillae absent on all jaws. Five pairs of eyes, with anterior 4 pairs located dorsally on second, third, fourth, fifth annulus, respectively, forming a “V” shaped pattern; fifth pair on eighth annulus, equally separated from each other as fourth pair. All eyes, except second pair, very small and spot-like; second pair of eyes much larger; fourth and fifth pairs of eyes separated by two annuli.

Crop with 14 pairs of caeca, one pair in each of somites IX–XXIII; first four pairs simple and small, increasing in size in each subsequent pair, observable only in specimens immediately after bloodsucking and not observed in reproductive individuals (probably due to being pressed by clitellum); caeca from 5th pair on (in somite XIII) much larger, last pair of caeca (in somite XXIII) stretched posteriorly to somite XXVII.

Male gonopore in somite XII b2/a2. Female gonopore in XII b5/b6. Gonopores separated by two annuli. Male reproductive system with 10 pairs of testisacs, first pair of testes located between vagina sac and ganglion XIV over vas deferens; vas deferens posteriorly connected to epididymis. Epididymis consisted of multiple lobular tubes, located on sides of ganglia XII and XIII, anteriorly connected to ejaculatory bulb by a small short tube. Ejaculatory bulb large and spindly, connected by a short tube with spherical penis sac buried inside prostate gland. Penis sac located on lower left side (rarely on right side) of ganglion XI, about 2 to 3 times as large as ejaculation bulb, connected to male gonopore by short tube. Female reproductive system consisted of a pair of spheroidal ovaries located to left of ganglion XII; ovary connected to vagina sac via a short oviduct connected to a large chief oviduct wrapped by protein glands. Vagina sac spheroid and large, approximately 5 to 6 times size of penis sac, connected by thick vaginal duct to female gonopore located posterior to ganglion XI.

Remarks: The new species can be separated from the S. cavatuses comb. n. using morphological characteristics listed in Table 4 and illustrated Fig. 3 , and by COI sequence distance ( Table 5). Specifically, S. wulingensis sp. n. differs from S. cavatuses comb. n. in that the 2nd pair of eyes are the largest, and the 5th pair of eyes was present ( Fig. 3A ) while in the latter species, the 1st pair of eyes are the largest and the 5th pair of eyes are usually absent ( Yang et al. 2009; Fig. 3B ). Additionally, S. wulingensis sp. n. can be distinguished from S. cavatuses comb. n. by the location of the 1st pair of testes, the number of caeca, and body size and measurement of other body parts ( Table 4).

Biology: Sinospelaeobdella wulingensis sp. n. lives on the ceiling of wet karstic caves, a stable microhabitat with an average temperature at 17°C and relative humidity at 91%. The new species is monoecious, allogeneic, and breeds continuously throughout the year although reproductive individuals are more frequently observed between September and October of the year. During mating, paired individuals cling to cave wall using caudal sucker and intertwine with each other over anterior part of the body ( Fig. 5A ). Reproductive individuals ( Fig. 5B ) have large body size and have a distinct anterior white clitellum consisted of 17 annuli. Cocoons ( Fig. 5C ) are irregularly globular, consisted of an outer layer of foamy structure with polygonal cells and a central spherical egg sack; fresh cocoons are most frequently seen in October through December. Larvae ( Fig. 5D ) are white to pinkish, very active, and more blood thirsty than adults, and are seen between March to April. Both adults and larvae suck blood on hindfoot ( Fig. 5E ) of several bat species, including Rhinolophus sinicus Andersen , R. pearsonii Horsfield , R. pusillus Temminck , R. macrotis Blyth and Hipposideros armiger (Hodgson) .

Distribution: The new species is currently known from Jishou City, Guzhang and Yongshun Counties in the Wuling Mountains in northwestern Hunan Province, China. The species is likely to also occur in mountainous areas of neighboring Guizhou, Hubei, Sichuan, and Guangxi Provinces where caves are relatively common in mountains with limestone rock formation ( Zhang & Zhu 2012).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Comparison of reproductive gonopore locations between the three trignathous genera of Haemadipsidae sensu Borda & Siddall (2010), i.e., Haemadipsa (H. tianmushanensis) (A), Tritetrabdella (T. taiwana) [B (Nakano & Sung 2014)], and Sinospelaeobdella (S. wulingensis sp. n.) (C).

FIGURE 3. Arrangement of eyes in S. wulingensis sp. n. (A) and S. cavatuses comb. n. (B).

FIGURE 4. The dorsal (left) and ventral (right) views of Sinospelaeobdella wulingensis sp. n., and the specimen (HNSND1) deposited in 70% alcohol photographed before (A); the reproductive system of new species (B). Abbreviations: an, anus; ♂, male gonopore; ♀, female gonopore; cod, chief oviduct; de, ejaculatory duct; eb, ejaculatory bulb; ep, epididymis; o, ovary; od, oviduct; pr, prostate gland; ps, penis sac; t1, first pair of testes; va, vagina sac; vad, vaginal duct; vd, vas deferens.

FIGURE 5. The four stages (A, mating behavior; B, external feature of reproductive individual; C, cocoon; D, larva) of life cycle in Sinospelaeobdella wulingensis sp. n. and blood-sucking on the hindfoot of Rhinolophus sinicus (E).