Placobdelloides multistriatus ( Johansson, 1909 )

Bolotov, Ivan N., Eliseeva, Tatyana A., Tsiplenkina, Iya G., Gofarov, Mikhail Y. & Kondakov, Alexander V., 2023, Long forgotten record of a freshwater leech on Madagascar indicates a host-associated dispersal event from continental Africa, Ecologica Montenegrina 61, pp. 56-67 : 60-62

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.37828/em.2023.61.7

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/594E87D4-AF6A-AA5A-FF35-08E667A2FC67

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Placobdelloides multistriatus ( Johansson, 1909 )
status

 

Placobdelloides multistriatus ( Johansson, 1909)

= Placobdella catenigera Plotnikov (1907): 137 -138 [identification error].

= Placobdelloides multistriatus ( Johansson, 1909) . - Nesemann & Neubert (1999): 63 -64.

Figures 2 View Figure 2 a-c, 2e, 2g-h, 3a-c

Material examined: 2 specimens (catalogue No ZIN Hirudinea 2227) ( Figure 2 View Figure 2 a-b) with four labels as follows:

(1) “Andrahomana, hafteten an Schildkröten” [Andrahomana land area, approx. 25.1831° S, 46.6602° E; Southern Madagascar, attached to turtles] (original label with locality and host data; handwritten by Franz Sikora in 1899) ( Figure 2c View Figure 2 ) GoogleMaps ;

(2) “ N 148–99” (original label with collection number; handwritten by F. Sikora in 1899 or later) ( Figure 2e View Figure 2 );

(3) “ Placobdella catenigera? (Moq-Tan) ” [reference to the nominal species Placobdella catenigera (Moquin-Tandon, 1846) ] (secondary label; most likely handwritten by V. Plotnikov in 1904) ( Figure 2g View Figure 2 );

(4) “ No м. К. [museum catalogue] 2227. Placobdella catenigera? (Moq. Tand.) . Andrahomana (МадагасК.) [ Madagascar], hafteten an Schildkröten, Sikora leg. No 148-99, 2 ЭКЗ. [2 specimens]” (secondary label; most likely handwritten by E. Lukin in 1960s-1970s) ( Figure 2h View Figure 2 ) .

Our comparative graphological assessment indicates that Sikora handwrote the labels (1) and (2) (compare Figure 2c and 2e View Figure 2 with Figure 2d and 2f View Figure 2 , respectively).

Hosts: Although the specimens from Andrahomana were collected from an unspecified turtle species, their host may belong to the marsh terrapin Pelomedusa subrufa (Bonnaterre, 1789) ( Pelomedusidae ) that occurs on the southern edge of the island ( Petzold et al. 2014). The marsh terrapin was listed as one of the suitable hosts for Placobdelloides multistriatus in continental Africa ( Oosthuizen 1979), although it currently delineated to several cryptic species with more restricted ranges ( Petzold et al. 2014).

Other confirmed hosts in continental Africa are as follows: Nile crocodile Crocodylus niloticus Laurenti, 1768 ; West African slender-snouted crocodile Mecistops cataphractus (Cuvier, 1825) ; African dwarf crocodile Osteolaemus tetraspis Cope, 1861 ( Crocodylidae ); serrated hinged terrapin Pelusios sinuatus (A. Smith, 1838) ( Pelomedusidae ); and Nile softshell turtle Trionyx triunguis (Forskål, 1775) ( Trionychidae ) ( Oosthuizen 1979). Finally, P. multistriatus was found to be a vector of chelonian haemogregarines in the serrated hinged terrapin in South Africa ( Paperna 1989).

Distribution: Madagascar (this study); continental Africa: Botswana ( Leslie et al. 2011); Sudan, Egypt, South West Africa [currently Namibia], Zaire [currently the Democratic Republic of the Congo], Liberia, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, Republic of South Africa ( Oosthuizen 1979); Western Asia: Yemen ( Al-Safadi and El-Shimy 1993) ( Figure 1 View Figure 1 ).

Comments: The sample was collected by Franz Sikora (1863-1902), a prominent Austrian traveler, collector, and dealer, who collected on Madagascar during seven years in 1890s ( Beolens et al. 2011). This naturalist collected fossil and recent biological specimens from Madagascar and Réunion and sold these collections to various European museums ( Stagl 2005). Sikora’s samples from Madagascar contained land leeches ( Borda 2006), land snails ( Breure 2015), freshwater bivalves ( Ancey 1890; Glaubrecht et al. 2007), freshwater insect larvae ( Barber-James 2010), among other animal groups. In 1899, Sikora visited Andrahomana to excavate extinct lemur fossils and associated fauna from a cave ( Burney et al. 2008). It is quite possible that the leech sample was obtained during that field trip. The original label with collection number ( Figure 2e View Figure 2 ) supports this assumption. It contains a characteristic crossed out letter ‘ N ’ (typically used by F. Sikora in his lists of items for sale; see Breure 2015), a number of the sample (‘148’), as well as an additional number ‘99’ that may correspond to the sampling year.

V

Royal British Columbia Museum - Herbarium

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Annelida

Class

Clitellata

Order

Rhynchobdellida

Family

Glossiphoniidae

Genus

Placobdelloides

Loc

Placobdelloides multistriatus ( Johansson, 1909 )

Bolotov, Ivan N., Eliseeva, Tatyana A., Tsiplenkina, Iya G., Gofarov, Mikhail Y. & Kondakov, Alexander V. 2023
2023
Loc

Placobdelloides multistriatus ( Johansson, 1909 )

Nesemann, H. & Neubert, E. 1999: 63
1999
Loc

Placobdella catenigera

Plotnikov, V. 1907: 137
1907
Darwin Core Archive (for parent article) View in SIBiLS Plain XML RDF