An example of a possible leech-bryozoan association in freshwater

By

Klass, Anna
Sokolova, Svetlana
Kondakov, Alexander V
Bespalaya, Yuliya V.
Gofarov, Mikhail Yu.
Tomilova, Alena A.
Vikhrev, Ilya
Bolotov, Ivan N.

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2018

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

794

Pages

23-30

Subjects

Bryozoa , bryozoan-associated epibionts , eastern Siberia , Glossiphoniidae , Hirudinea , Plumatellidae

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.794.28088

 

Abstract

Associations of various invertebrate species with bryozoans and sponges are a well-known marine phenomenon but such epizooic communities are far less diverse in freshwater environments. Here an occurrence of numerous leeches Alboglossiphoniacf.papillosa (Braun, 1805), in interstitial spaces between zooids of a colony of the freshwater bryozoan species Plumatellaaff.fungosa (Pallas, 1768) in Eastern Siberia is described. To the best of our knowledge, this record appears to be the first known example of a leech-bryozoan association, although such relationships deserve further research.