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Peter Hovingh

  • Biodiversity Journal, 14 (2): 0293-0301

    William H. Clark & Peter Hovingh
    A new record of the Haematophagic Praobdellidae Leech (Hirudinida) in the Peninsular Ranges of Baja California, México, and a Leech distribution review
    https://doi.org/10.31396/Biodiv.Jour.2023.14.2.293.301

    ABSTRACT
    A Praobdellidae leech and its palm oasis environment is described from Baja California, Mexico. This leech is tentatively identified as Pintobdella cajali Caballero, 1932 by somite annulation and reproductive tract. Praobdellid records were noted in literature and museum from Baja California Sur and Arizona. Six leech species are noted from the Peninsula Range in southern California (five species) and Baja California (one species), five taxa in the Gila River drainage of Arizona and New Mexico, one species from Sonora, and three species from Sinaloa illustrating the effects of the region’s aridness and/or the paucity of leech surveys in northwestern Mexico.

  • Biodiversity Journal, 11 (3): 689-698

    Peter Hovingh & Ulrich Kutschera
    Two new Helobdella species (Annelida Hirudinida Glossiphoniidae) from the Intermountain region of the United States, formerly considered as Helobdella stagnalis Linnaeus, 1758
    https://doi.org/10.31396/Biodiv.Jour.2020.11.3.689.698
    https://www.zoobank.org/References/8006dbb4-cf4f-4ce4-bad3-0a7bb4857fc3

    ABSTRACT
    Two Helobdella stagnalis-like leech specimens (Annelida Hirudinida Glossiphoniidae) were histologically examined from Nevada in the Great Basin, and from Utah in the Colorado River Basin (USA) to determine whether or not their crops were similar to those in H. californica Kutschera 1988. The Nevada form was brown and with pigmentation patterns, whereas the Utah form was plain and white. The dorsoventral histological sectioning of these 3 specimens showed the Utah and Nevada forms had compact salivary glands, hitherto noted only in the South American Helobdella and Haementaria species. The pharynx of Nevada individuals was S-shaped, and in the Utah form the ejaculatory ducts formed a Gordian knot in the distal-most posterior region, further distinguishing these 2 intermountain Helobdella-isolates. Comparing these two taxa to other published Helobdella internal morphologies, two new species are proposed: Helobdella humboldtensis n. sp. from Nevada (size and pigmentation similar to H. californica) and Helobdella gordiana n. sp. from Utah, which resembles H. stagnalis from Europe. These findings suggest the Intermountain area may be a prime region to study the evolution of members of the Helobdella species complex.