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ANATOMY, LIFE HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE PARASITIC LEECH OLIGOBDELLA BIANNULATA (MOORE, 1900) (EUHIRUDINEA: GLOSSIPHONIIDAE)
Citation:
Moser, W. E., R. W. Van Devender, AND D J. Klemm. ANATOMY, LIFE HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE PARASITIC LEECH OLIGOBDELLA BIANNULATA (MOORE, 1900) (EUHIRUDINEA: GLOSSIPHONIIDAE). Presented at Association of Southeastern Biologists, Boone, NC, April 10-13, 2002.
Impact/Purpose:
The goal of this research is to develop methods and indicators that are useful for evaluating the condition of aquatic communities, for assessing the restoration of aquatic communities in response to mitigation and best management practices, and for determining the exposure of aquatic communities to different classes of stressors (i.e., pesticides, sedimentation, habitat alteration).
Description:
Oligobdella biannulata (Moore, 1900) is a rare, endemic species originally described from a mountain stream near Blowing Rock, North Carolina. Specimens of this species were collected seasonally from fall 1999 to winter 2001 with four new county records in North Carolina (Avery, Caldwell, Haywood and Mitchell Counties) and a new state record from Tennessee (Sevier County). Leeches were collected free-living in the summer and on their hosts (Desmognathine salamanders) in the fall/winter. Oligobdella biannulata is a translucent, olive-green species with scattered brown chromatophores in the cephalic and anal regions. The adult leech is 5-8 mm in length and has an ovate-lanceolate body shape, 2-annulate body somite, large caudal sucker, single confluent pair of eyes, five pairs of testisacs and seven pairs of crop caeca. Olligobdella biannulata seems to have a 2-year life span, reaching sexual maturity in under one year. Adults leave their hosts sometime in the spring and breed. An adult lays 15-25 bright yellow, yolky eggs and broods them underneath its ventral surface. After 9-12 days, the eggs hatch. After approximately 50 days, the hatchlings and adult search for a blood meal. When a Desmognathine salamander host is found, the adult attaches, hatchlings leave the adult, and attach singly or in clusters on the limbs or around the eyes, and blood-feed. Two year old leeches drop off and die, while first year adults and hatchlings stay attached, over-winter on hosts, and reproduce in the spring.