Genetic diversity of the flat leeches (Hirudinea, Glossiphoniidae) in Western Siberia

Poster (download)

356

Nadezhda Bolbat¹, Lyudmila Fedorova², Irina Kaygorodova^3
1Irkutsk State University Irkutsk, Russia, nadya.mandzyak@mail.ru
²Surgut State University Surgut, Russia, ludiko@list.ru
³Limnological institute SB RAS Irkutsk, Russia, irina@lin.irk.ru

The poor knowledge of the glossiphoniid fauna of Western Siberia is a consequence of the unresolved taxonomy of this group. An incomplete description of the species due to the phylogenetic ambiguity of external morphological characters and high intraspecific variability complicated the identification of these leeches. Using molecular genetic methods in combination with classical morphological analysis, we proved the presence of 7 species of the family Glossiphoniidae in Western Siberia, with interspecific genetic pairwise distances varying from 3.7 to 18.2%. In addition to Theromyzon tessulatum, Helobdella stagnalis and Hemiclepsis marginata, previously detected in the region, four potentially new species (Glossiphonia sp. 1, Glossiphonia sp. 2, Glossiphonia sp. 3, and Alboglossiphonia sp.) were found. The results obtained for the Western Siberian leeches once again confirm the advantage of the DNA barcoding application, as one of the molecular methods for species delimitation, used in an integrated approach to the study of taxonomic composition of a fauna.

В