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

Placobdelloides multistriatus ( Johansson, 1909)

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

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

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

Material examined: 2 specimens (catalogue No ZIN Hirudinea 2227) ( 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 ) ;

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

(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 );

(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 ) .

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

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 ) 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.

Figures

Figure 1. Range map of Placobdelloides multistriatus. The light red filling indicates country-level records from continental Africa and Western Asia (Oosthuizen 1979; Al-Safadi and El-Shimy 1993; Leslie et al. 2011); the red star indicates F. Sikora’s record from Madagascar discussed herein. Map: Mikhail Y. Gofarov.

Figure 2. General view and labels of F. Sikora’s sample of Placobdelloides multistriatus (N = 2), Andrahomana, Southern Madagascar (ZIN Hirudinea 2227). (a) Specimen No 1 (red arrow shows a rupture at the ventral side). (b) Specimen No 2. (c) Original label with locality and host data (handwritten by F. Sikora in 1899). (d) Example of the word ‘Andrahomana’ from a handwritten letter of F. Sikora, Fort Dauphin, 17 December 1900 (Breure 2015, fig. 55c). (e) Original label with collection number (handwritten by F. Sikora in 1899 or later). (f) Two examples of a crossed out letter ‘N’ from a handwritten letter of F. Sikora, Fort Dauphin, 17 December 1900 (Breure 2015, fig. 55b). (g) Secondary label containing species name with a question mark (most likely handwritten by V. Plotnikov in 1904). (h) Secondary label (most likely handwritten by E. Lukin in 1960s-1970s). Scale bar = 1.0 mm (a-b). Photos: Tatyana A. Eliseeva and Iya G. Tsiplenkina.