On first Record of the Hillstream Leech Myxobdella annandalei Oka, 1917 (Annelida:Hirudinidae) from Himachal Pradesh, India

Abstract

During a recent survey to Himachal Pradesh, the authors came across a single example of leech from a clean and unpolluted swift-water running stream at Bilaspur (lat. 31°35 ' N. long. 76°75 ' E.) situated at an altitude of 673 m near D.A.V. School (Senior) on 15.09.2012. It was found under a stone attached to a freshwater crab. This leech (Figs. 1A-C) has been identified as Myxobdella annandalei Oka,1917 (Family Hirudinidae) for the following characters: soft and flabby body for the greater part of its length, gently tapering at the posterior and anterior extremities; caudal sucker much larger; jaws small and weak, teeth very few, three or four in each row; somites imperfectly 5 annulate, complete somites from X-XXII; eyes five pairs on somite II to VI, small and obscure; gonopores separated by five annuli. Colour of this leech is pale grey or olive, more or less closely maculated with black and dusky blotches. Its length and width of the leech were 29.5 mm and 12 mm respectively and the radius of the posterior sucker 5 mm only. The specimen has been deposited in the National Collection of the Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata (Reg. No. An 3808/1).