A new freshwater leech species from Asian Swamp Eel stocks in China

Discoveries of new Hemiclepsis species (Hirudinea: Glossiphoniidae) in East and Southeast Asia were expected. A peculiar freshwater leech was found on the body surface of Asian Swamp Eel Monopterus albus (Synbranchiformes: Synbranchidae) in Jingzhou, Hubei Province, China. Here, we describe this leech species as Hemiclepsis yangtzenensis sp. nov. It could be distinguished from other congeners based on a combination of morphological features such as very small size, translucent body with dense green reticulate markings throughout dorsum, very large posterior sucker with a characteristic reticulate pattern, and two pairs of well-developed drop-like eyespots. It also represents a phylogenetic lineage that is distant from other members of the genus based on the COI and 18S rRNA sequences. This leech species seems to be a specialized fish parasite that could negatively affect farming and wild stocks of Asian Swamp Eel in China.