Meeting Abstract

P2.211  Saturday, Jan. 5  A description of a new Helobdella (Hirudinoidea: Glossiphoniidae) species, Helobdella blinnii found in Montezuma Well, Arizona BERESIC-PERRINS, R.K.*; GOVEDICH, F.; ROSE, D.; SHUSTER, S.M.; Northern Arizona Univ.; Southern Utah Univ.; Northern Arizona Univ.; Northern Arizona Univ. rkb32@nau.edu

A new leech species of the genus Helobdella has been recorded within Montezuma Well, an isolated travertine well found in central Arizona. Helobdella blinnii was first described as Helobdella stagnalis, which is a common leech found in lakes and streams in Europe and North America. H. blinnii morphology includes: six pair of testisacs, five pair of smooth crop caeca,one lobed pair of caeca posteriorly directed, one pair of eyes, a nuchal scute, diffused salivary glands, and their color ranges from light to dark brown, whereas. H. stagnalis have 6 smooth crop cacea and are transparent to a light grey color. They have 1 to 11 offspring from 7 to 11 white eggs per brood, which differs from H. stagnalis, which, on average, have twice as many offspring and the eggs are pink in color. H. blinnii breed year-round, with peak breeding bouts in the fall and spring. H. stagnalis breeds only in the summer months. Molecular analysis was performed by sequencing the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase subunit I (NDI) mtDNA gene regions to investigate whether H. blinnii differs genetically from other Helobdella species (collected from GenBank) and close known populations of H. stagnalis located within the same region as Montezuma Well. We concluded that H. blinnii differs morphologically, behaviorally and genetically from other Helobdella species and is endemic to the unique environment of Montezuma Well.