Abstract
Turtle leeches have not been recorded in Korea, although they occur in geographically adjacent countries including China and Japan. This study describes a turtle leech, Ozobranchus jantseanus (Clitellata: Ozobranchidae), found from Reeve’s turtle (Mauremys reevesii) in Korea. Of the 143 Reeve’s turtles collected from the freshwater reservoir in Jinju City, Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea, 95 unidentified leeches were found in 8 (5.6%) individuals. The leeches had 22 somites with 11 pairs of externally exposed branchiae, body-sized posterior suckers, and spines on the dorsal surface. We identified these leeches as Ozobranchus jantseanus Oka, 1912 (Clitellata: Ozobranchidae). This species of turtle leeches found in Korea may fill the gap in the biodiversity of East Asian annulus.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 213-215 |
| Number of pages | 3 |
| Journal | The Korean journal of parasitology |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank the members of the Animal Behavior Lab at Ewha Womans University for their assistance in this study, especially Yoon-Ju Kim. This work was supported by Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute, grant number (KEITI 2021002270001).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, Korean Society for Parasitology and Tropical Medicine.
Keywords
- Korea
- Ozobranchus jantseanus
- freshwater turtle
- leech
