An integrative taxonomic study of the genus Theromyzon (Hirudinea: Glossiphoniidae), with description of a new North American species
Maddy Foote
A B * , Rafael Iwama A B , Danielle de Carle A B and Sebastian Kvist A B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queens Park, Toronto, ON, M5S 2C6, Canada.
B Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Invertebrate Systematics 36(7) 631-646 https://doi.org/10.1071/IS21062
Submitted: 16 September 2021 Accepted: 20 February 2022 Published: 27 July 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing.
Abstract
Theromyzon Philippi, 1867 is a genus of sanguivorous, freshwater leeches in the family Glossiphoniidae. The genus is broadly distributed across the globe, possibly due to the frequent feeding in the nasopharyngeal cavities of migratory waterfowl that may allow for long distance dispersal. The genus has a history of taxonomic confusion resulting from mischaracterisations of key morphological features of type specimens that have produced several re-descriptions and synonyms. Here, we bring partial order to this confusion through robust morphological investigations of newly collected North American (and a single South American) specimens, representing most of the known species diversity from this continent. We also produce the first species-level phylogeny for Theromyzon and attempt to understand species boundaries regarding both morphology and genetics. Our results demonstrate that there are at least five species of Theromyzon present in North America (T. bifarium, T. tessulatum, T. rude, T. trizonare, and a clade that needs further investigation), and a hitherto undescribed taxon that does not conform to any previously published description, and represents a unique lineage in the phylogeny; we describe this new species under the name Theromyzon tigris sp. nov. This study sheds light on the discriminatory power of select morphological characters and the distribution of phenotypes within the genus. We also provide a comprehensive classification framework for the known species within the genus designed to facilitate identification and minimise future taxonomic confusion.
Keywords: Glossiphoniidae, Hirudinea, Hirudinida, leech, phylogenetics, species diversity, taxonomy, Theromyzon, Theromyzon tigris.
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