Miscellanea Zoologica Hungarica 11. 1997 (Budapest, 1997)

Nesemann, H.: Rediscovery of the leech genus Ancyrobdella (Hirudinea, Glossiphoniidae)

Material and methods The leeches were collected by hand and fixed with 10% ethanol for some hours. The material was finally preserved with 70% ethanol. It is deposited in the collection of H. Nesemann and in the Department of Zoology of the Hungarian Natural History Museum (HNHM) in Budapest. Results Ancyrobdella Oka, 1917 19

\lâ Ancyrobdella Oka - Annot. Zool. Jap. 9 (3): 185-193. Diagnosis: Glossiphoniidae with cylindrical or dorsoventrally flattened body. The midbody somites are basically triannulate. The head bears 0-4 eyes. The mouth porus is situated centrally in the oral sucker. The proboscis may reach nearly the half length of the body and is armed with three hook-like prominences very near its anterior tip. The prominences are separated by 120° arc, one is of dorsomedian and two are of ventrolateral arrangement. The crop has six (A. biwae) or seven pairs (A. smaragdina) of caeca. The (? endemic) genus is represented with two species in Japan, known from Honshu and Shikoku. Ancyrobdella biwae Oka, 1917 (Figs 1-3) 1917a Ancyrobdella biwae Oka, Annot. Zool. Jap. 9 (3): 185-193. 1917b Ancyrobdella biwae Oka, Mem. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 6: 169-174, Figs. 9-12. Although there are no further records in the literature, the excellent descriptions given by Oka (1917a, b) allow us to compare Ancyrobdella biwae with the recently collected material of Ancyrobdella. By subsequent designation, this is the type-species of the genus. It differs from A. smaragdina by the absence of eyes, by length of the proboscis, by the presence of only six pairs of crop caeca and by its extraordinary elongated Piscicolid-like body (Fig. 1). This may be a highly specialised species, which seems to be adapted to the life in the deeper profundal zone of Lake Biwa. Ancyrobdella smaragdina (Oka, 1910), new combination (Figs 4-8) 1910 Glossiphonia smaragdina Oka, Annot. Zool. Jap. 7: 168: 1917 Glossiphonia smaragdina Oka, Mem. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 6: 166-167. 1928 Glossiphonia smaragdina Oka, Proc. Imperial Acad. 4 (9): 543-545. 1928 Hemiclepsis smaragdina Oka, Proc. Imperial Acad. 4 (9): 544, Fig. 1. 1935 Hemiclepsis smaragdina Oka, Proc. Imperial Acad. 11 (6): 240. 1962 Batracobdella smaragdina Pawlowski, Zeszt. Nauk. Uniw. Lodz. Nauk. Mat.Przyrod., Ser. II, zeszt. 12: 132, 136. 1986 Glossiphonia paludosa (partim) Sawyer, Leech Biology and Behaviour, Vol. II: 737, 741.