Placobdella costata (Fr. Müller, 1846), Fr. Muller, 1846

Darabi-Darestani, Kaveh, Sari, Alireza & Sarafrazi, Alimorad, 2016, Five new records and an annotated checklist of the leeches (Annelida: Hirudinida) of Iran, Zootaxa 4170 (1), pp. 41-70 : 65-66

Placobdella costata (Fr. Müller, 1846)

( Fig. 17 and Plate VI 2 A&B)

Material examined. ZUTC-ann 1012, 1016, 1017, 1020, 1023, 1027, 1029, 1030, 1031, 1035, 1036, 1039.

Roudbar to Jamshid Abad road, Sepidroud river bank, Guilan, (N 36° 55΄ 44.8˝ E 49° 30΄ 56.4˝), 137m, ZUTC 6022 . Taleb-Abad Anzali , Guilan, (N 37° 21΄ 28.8˝, E 49° 33΄ 26.5˝), - 15m, ZUTC 6027 . Chaf wetland, Langroud , Guilan, (N 37° 33΄ 28.30˝, E 50° 12΄ 50.1˝), - 3m, ZUTC 6028 ( Fig. 1 ).

General distribution and habitats. A Mediterranean species, known eastwards to the Ukraine, in the southeast from Greece, Turkey, and the Levant to the southern Arabian Peninsula ( Nesemann & Neubert 1999). Also present in Germany, Italy, Tunisia, Spain, Poland and Netherland ( Haaren et al. 2004; Spyra & Krodkiewska 2013; Romero et al. 2014; Ben Ahmed et al. 2015 Reported by Grosser & Pešić (2006) from northern Iran and Salimi et al. (2011) from western Iran. Living in habitats such as eutrophic wetlands, rice filed irrigation canals or banks of slow running rivers underside of submerged materials and among aquatic vegetation. Famous as turtle leech since found feeding on blood of pond turtles ( Nesemann & Neubert 1999).

Descriptive features and remarks. Oval shape flattened leeches with small to medium size body (30 to 50 mm). Head region to some extent broadened. Mouth pore on anterior part of cephalic sucker. Two pairs of eyes in the head region and often fused forming compound eyes. Genital pores separated by two annuli. Dorsally, reddish brown or greenish brown. Marginal regions with a row of white spots. A dorso-median bright stripe with four black spots and two paramedian rows of significant yellow papillae along with a row of smaller papillae on bright median stripe. Ventrally white or reddish white. Caudal sucker small.

PLATE VI. 1: Helobdella stagnalis (Scale 1mm), 2: Placobdella costata (Scale 1cm).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Distribution map of the known leech fauna of Iran. Circles: Localities of present study. Squares: Localities from available literature.

FIGURE 17. Placobdella costata Drosal view (a) and ventral view of the body with hatchlings (b).