Shibabdella wulingensis Tang & Liu, 2025

Tang, Yan, Liu, Zhixiao, Xiang, Haiyang, Li, Linbei, Li, Shi, Zou, Yazhen & Nakano, Takafumi, 2025, A new genus of non-bloodsucking aquatic cave leeches in the family Salifidae Johansson, 1909 (Erpobdelliformes) from the Wuling Mountains of Central China, Zoosystematics and Evolution 101 (3), pp. 1113-1122 : 1113-1122

Shibabdella wulingensis Tang & Liu , gen. nov. et sp. nov.

Specimen materials.

Holotype • HNHY 01 ; adult; body length 49.19 mm, maximum body width 4.37 mm, diameter of oral sucker 1.04 mm, diameter of caudal sucker 4.11 mm; Shibadong Cave , Gaoming Mountain, Shibadong Village, Huayuan County, Hunan Province, China (28°22.81'N, 109°29.49'E, 622.13 m); collected August 18, 2024 . Paratypes • 10 specimens, HNHY 02 – HNHY 11 , Shibadong Cave , Gaoming Mountain, Shibadong Village, Huayuan County, Hunan Province, China; collected between September 2024 and January 2025, respectively .

Etymology.

The genus name Shibabdella gen. nov. is a combination of “ Shiba ” and “ bdella. ” The first element represents the Shibadong Cave, the type locality of the type species. The specific name of the type species, “ wulingensis, ” means that the type species was first found in the Wuling Mountains of central China.

Ecology.

This species usually inhabits still waters of the cave at depths of 0.02–0.16 m. The water bottom is normally covered with 0.02–0.10 m of clay and sandy sediments, as well as bat feces, Edwards’s long-tailed giant rat ( Leopoldamys edwardsi ) feces, and insect larvae.

Diagnosis.

Body flat and cylindrical, creamy or pinkish – white, without spots and stripes. One full somite consists of nine annuli, b 1 (c 1 = c 2) = b 2 (c 3 = c 4) <a 2> b 5 (c 9 = c 10)> b 6 (c 11 = c 12) in adults, while in juveniles, c 1 <c 2 = b 2 (c 3 = c 4) <a 2> c 9> c 10 = b 6 (c 11 = c 12). Eyespots undetectable. Tubular pharynx, reaching to XIV c 1 – c 4, anteriorly with 3 myognaths. Intestine occupies a total of 22 annuli, with a folded inner wall and a diameter significantly larger than crop. Absence of the obvious angle of genital atrium. Ovisacs strip-shaped, folding in the middle of somite XXI and then reversing the coiling, which extends to somite XIX, the distance from the blind end to the female gonopore about 1 / 3 of the body length.