L. Forró szerk.: Miscellanea Zoologica Hungarica 13. 2000 (Budapest, 2000)

Juhász, P., Kovács, T.; Ambrus, A.: The Leech Collection of the Mátra Museum (Hirudinea)

Fig. 1. Distribution of Placobdella costata: +, Alboglossiphonia hyalina: •, Caspiobdella fadejewi: O and Trocheta riparia: • in Hungary. Caspiobdella fadejewi •— The existence of this species was revealed at 14 sampling locations (Fig. 1). It is a characteristic leech species of flowing waters that was only registered in few locations in Hungary during the past few years. Its occurrence is evident in clean, fast-flowing, oxygen-rich river sections, where the substrate consists of pebbles. Cystobranchus respirons — Similarly to the previously described species the clean and fast flowing rivers are the typical habitats for this species. It is the parasite leech of cyprinid and salmonid fishes. The occurrence was registered at three sampling points, in two sites it was found to coexist with Trocheta cylindrica. Hirudo verbana — New species in the Hungarian leech fauna, recorded at three sampling locations. Earlier the species Hirudo verbana Carena was known under the name of Hirudo medicinalis forma officinalis. Its main distribution area is the Western part of Carpathian Basin and some places in the Middle East (Turkey, Syria, Israel). It is anticipated that in Hungary H. verbana is the dominant species in the Hanság and in the Great Hungarian Plains. H. medicinalis is another species that is more common in the Lake Balaton watershed and along the Danube River. In general, H. verbana is not known from the floodplains of the large lowland rivers of the Western Carpathian Basin. Therefore the natural distribution border of the H. verbana and H. medicinalis is in the East of Austria and Northwest of Hungary (Balaton - Szigetköz) (Hasko Nesemann, pers. commun.). Trocheta riparia — The species was first described by Nesemann from the Pinka River (Nesemann 1993). It is an endemic leech species that has been known only from locus typicus. Authors found one specimen in the Kerka River (that is the second occurrence data of the species) (Fig. 1). This sampling point is in the vicinity of the type locality. It occurs in the hypocrenal zone of the surface water and its biology is practically unkown.