Annellida, Hirudinea, Piscicolidae, Stibarobdella macrothela (Schmarda, 1861): First report for northeastern Brazil

Abstract

This is the first report of the genus Stibarobdella for Northeastern Brazil. Two specimens isolated from the host were identified in the invertebrate collection at LIMCe (Laboratório de Invertebrados Marinhos do Ceará). The specimens were collected off Paracuru town, a coastal location in Ceará State, Northeastern Brazil (3°25′31″ S, 39°1′29″ W), at a depth of 40 m on July 13th, 1977. The host elasmobranch from which the specimens were retrieved Marine leeches, especially those with parasitic habits, are important components of the ecosystem (Siddal and Burreson 1998; Utevsky and Trontelj 2004; Wunderlich et al. 2011). Approximately twenty species of marine leeches, all of which of the family Piscicolidae, feed on blood from sharks and rays and are known to be vectors of elasmobranch hematozoa (Caira and Healy 2004; Utevsky and Trontelj 2004). Most piscicolids are circumglobal in tropical and subtropical oceans (Utevsky and Tronjelj 2004). Marine leeches feeding on elasmobranchs have previously been reported for

First record of Stibarobdella moorei (Annelida, Hirudinea, Piscicolidae) a marine leech parasitizing Octopus bimaculatus (Mollusca: Octopodidae) from the Mexican Pacific coast

“…The fi rst report of S. macrothela for the north region of Brazil was published by Alves et al (2014). In Turkey, three species of marine leeches, Branchellion torpedinis (Savigny, 1822), Pontobdella muricata (Linnaeus, 1758), and S. moorei were collected from Pteromylaeus bovinus (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817), Dasyatis pastinaca (Linnaeus, 1758), and Raja miraletus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Başusta et al, 2015).…”

“…Stibarobdella moorei (Oka, 1910) and S. macrothela (Schmarda, 1861) have been found in Brazil (Soto 2000(Soto , 2003Wunderlich et al, 2011;Alves et al, 2014). There is also evidence of their presence in India (Harding, 1924) and Turkey (Başusta et al,.…”

“…In several coastal habitats of tropical and subtropical oceans, hirudinean of the family Piscicolidae are well known as marine leeches of sharks and rays (Llewellyn, 1966;Sawyer et al, 1975;Williams, 1982;Soto 2000Soto , 2003Utevsky and tronjelj, 2004;Furiness et al, 2007;Alves et al, 2014). Stibarobdella moorei (Oka, 1910) and S. macrothela (Schmarda, 1861) have been found in Brazil (Soto 2000(Soto , 2003Wunderlich et al, 2011;Alves et al, 2014).…”