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15 August 2019 Phylogenetic Position and Description of a New Species of Medicinal Leech from the Eastern United States
Anna J. Phillips, Ricardo Salas-Montiel, Sebastian Kvist, Alejandro Oceguera-Figueroa
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Abstract

A new species of medicinal leech, Macrobdella mimicus n. sp., is described from specimens collected in Maryland; this is the first description of a North American macrobdellid since 1975. Superficially, the new species resembles the well-known Macrobdella decora, as both species possess 4 accessory pores arranged symmetrically on the ventral surface, yet the new species is distinguished from M. decora in possessing 4–4½ annuli (rather than 3½) between the gonopores and 4 annuli (rather than 5 annuli) between the female gonopore and the first pair of accessory pores. Phylogenetic analyses, based on 2 mitochondrial and 2 nuclear loci for a set of closely related taxa, confirms the placement of the new species within the family Macrobdellidae and places it as the sister taxon to M. decora and M. diplotertia.

© American Society of Parasitologists 2019 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Anna J. Phillips, Ricardo Salas-Montiel, Sebastian Kvist, and Alejandro Oceguera-Figueroa "Phylogenetic Position and Description of a New Species of Medicinal Leech from the Eastern United States," Journal of Parasitology 105(4), 587-597, (15 August 2019). https://doi.org/10.1645/18-119
Published: 15 August 2019
KEYWORDS
bloodfeeding
collections
Macrobdella
Macrobdellidae
natural history
southeastern United States
taxonomy
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