Taxonomic and genetic diversity of leeches on the Solovetsky Islands (White Sea, Northern European Russia)

This study presents new data on taxonomic and genetic diversity of freshwater leeches of Bolshoy Solovetsky Island (Russia, White Sea). Seven species of freshwater leeches belonging to five genera and three families were identified. In general, the detected leech species are widespread in the Arctic Region. Our median COI haplotype networks show that the leeches from Bolshoy Solovetsky Island have identical haplotypes or differ by one or three nucleotide substitutions from specimens from continental water bodies of Europe and Siberia. We assume that the dispersal of freshwater leeches to Solovetsky Islands results from (sub)recent immigration in the first half of the Holocene after the digression of the last ice sheet.