First record of the freshwater leech Hemiclepsis schrencki Bolotov, Klass, Bespalaya, Konopleva, Kondakov & Vikhrev, 2019 (Hirudinea, Glossiphoniidae) in Hokkaido, Japan

Freshwater leeches of the genus Hemiclepsis Vejdovský, 1884 were collected in Hokkaido, Japan, and identified as H. schrencki Bolotov, Klass, Bespalaya, Konopleva, Kondakov & Vikhrev, 2019. This marks the first recorded occurrence of the species beyond the Eurasian continent. The H. schrencki specimen from Hokkaido displays a distinct mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequence variant, represented by a single terminal in the phylogeny, suggesting that the local population is indigenous to this region.

Abstract licence: CC BY

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