Publication details
Hirudinida (pijavice)
| Title in English | Hirudinida (leeches) |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Příroda, Sborník prací z ochrany přírody |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Keywords | Red list; Hirudinida; Czech Republic |
| Description | Twenty-four leech species are currently known from the Czech Republic (Schenková et al. 2009). A systematic research covering the distribution of all the species in the Czech Republic and Slovakia was conducted by Košel (1989, 1998, 2001), with this research also dealing with the group in terms of endangerment of its species in the Pálava Biosphere Reserve (Košel 1999). From the conservation perspective, the most important species in the Czech Republic is clearly the medicinal leech Hirudo medicinalis, now classified as Endangered (EN). Endangered (EN) species newly include Erpobdella testacea, which is associated with lowland stag¬nant or slow-moving waters, especially those with muddy substrates and rich vegetation such as littoral reeds (Košel 2001, Jueg 2002, Bielecki et al. 2011). Another interesting species – especially from the zoogeographic perspective – is the jawless leech Glossiphonia slovaca (originally Batracobdella slovaca). The only locality of the Czech Republic where it occurs is South Moravia, the Thaya river basin, from which several recent sets of data are available (e.g. Schenková et al. 2009). Given the species occurrence at the edge of its range, the small size of the area with known findings and the possible future reduction of its abundance, we still classify it as Vulnerable (VU) in the Czech Republic. Alboglossiphonia striata is rarer in our country (Schenková et al. 2009), only known from South Moravia and the Vysočina Region; this species is classified for the purposes of this Red List as Near Threatened (NT). |