Placobdella montifera 



One immature P. montifera was recovered from 

 the dorsal surface of a fingerling sucker in early 

 October 1976. We also collected one adult speci- 

 men from beneath shoreline rocks at Umatilla 

 Reservoir during June where it was depositing a 

 cocoon. The species is not a common ectoparasite of 

 fish. It probably occurs mostly along reservoir 

 shorelines where water levels remain relatively 

 stable, rather than along the margins of the free- 

 flowing Columbia River above Richland. 



Placobdella montifera has been reported to at- 

 tack aquatic worms, insect larvae, mussels, frogs, 

 toads, and fish, but the only specific host records 

 are fish (Hoffman 1967; Klemm 1972a, 1975, 1976; 

 Sawyer 1972; and others). This leech, as do most 

 glossiphoniids, broods its cocoon and carries its 

 young. An uncommon but widely distributed 

 species, P. montifera is listed as having been re- 

 ported previously from Washington (Klemm 

 1972b). Distributional records probably valid in- 

 clude British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario, 

 and the northern states east of the Mississippi 

 River southward to Georgia (Sawyer 1972; Klemm 

 1977). 



The host relationship for glossiphoniids is gen- 

 erally considered to be less obligatory than for 

 piscicolids, and most are omnivorous feeders. Ap- 

 parently A. inequiannulata, P. montifera, and P. 

 pediculata Hemingway 1908 are the only three 

 American glossiphoniids consistently reported to 

 parasitize fish. Several authors have reported P. 

 pediculata from the freshwater drum, Aplodinotus 

 grunniens, and Sawyer ( 1972) has indicated a high 

 degree of host specificity; it has not been reported 

 from the Pacific Northwest, nor would it be ex- 

 pected in this region due to its narrow host prefer- 

 ence. 



Acknowledgments 



Donald J. Klemm, Research Aquatic Biologist, 

 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, collabo- 

 rated with us on leech identification and literature 

 survey, and critically reviewed the manuscript. 

 Fish collections were supported largely by en- 

 vironmental assessment programs for 

 Washington Public Power Supply System under 

 Contract 2311201335 between United Engineers 

 and Constructors and Battelle, Pacific Northwest 

 Laboratories. 



Actinobdella inequiannulata 



Six A. inequiannulata were collected from the 

 axila of the pelvic and pectoral fins of one adult 

 largescale sucker in mid-August 1975. According 

 to Sawyer (1972), this glossiphoniid is known from 

 Illinois, Minnesota, and Ohio; Klemm (1972a, b, 

 1977) adds Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New 

 York; and Daniels and Freeman (1976) add On- 

 tario. Actinobdella triannulata Moore 1924, a 

 name common in earlier literature, is now consid- 

 ered a junior synonym of A. inequiannulata 

 (Daniels and Freeman 1976; Klemm 1977). 



Daniels and Freeman (1976) provide a rede- 

 scription of A. inequiannulata on basis of speci- 

 mens collected from two species of suckers (genus 

 Catostomus) and preserved material from the U.S. 

 National Museum. The species was earlier consid- 

 ered as free-living with no known hosts (Sawyer 

 1972; Klemm 1972a). Since its synonym A. trian- 

 nulata displayed a predilection for suckers 

 (Hoffman 1967), the host preference of A. in- 

 equiannulata is now partially resolved. Little is 

 known of its ecology and life cycle. We did not 

 examine our specimens for ingested fish blood. 



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