A checklist of the leeches ( Annelida : Hirudinea ) of Montenegro

Based on published records and original data from r ecent research, a list is presented of the leeches (Hirudinea) of Montenegro. It includes 29 species and subspecies i n 13 genera and 5 families. Numerous new records ar e reported; Glossiphonia paludosa (Carena, 1824), Helobdella stagnalis (Linnaeus, 1758), Alboglossiphonis hyalina (O. F. Müller, 1774), Alboglossiphonia striata (Apáthy, 1888), Piscicola pawlowskii (Sket, 1968), Piscicola respirans Troschel, 1850, Hirudo verbana Carena, 1820, Erpobdella nigricollis (Brandes, 1900) and Erpobdella vilnensis (Liskiewicz, 1925), are reported for the first time for Montenegro. The cha racteristics of the leeches fauna in the treated ar a re briefly


Introduction
The research of leeches biodiversity in Montenegro has a relatively long tradition (Blanchard, 1905).Nevertheless, the fauna of Montenegro is still incompletely known (e.g., Sket 1968Sket , Šapkarev 1975)).During the last decade more authors published informations on leeches (Grosser and Pešić 2005, Grosser et al. 2007, Utevsky et al. 2013).However, despite a growing number of data published during the the last decades, leeches records from Montenegro, as well the other Balkan countries, remain dispersed.
This paper has two main objectives, namely (i) compiling data on the Montenegrian leeches and their current geographic distribution in Montenegro, and (ii) presenting georeferenced distribution records of leech species collected from 2004 up to now (available at http://ecol-mne.com/wpcontent/uploads/2014/12/Appendix.kmz), in order to contribute to the better knowledge of the region's biodiversity, and to understand the major gaps in our knowledge on the leeches of Montenegro.

Material and Methods
Using published records and original data, a checklist was compiled of the leech fauna of Montenegro.The species referred to in postgraduate theses and scientific meetings are no formal publications and are consequently not included in this paper.
For new records leeches were collected by hand or with pincers from the underside of hard substratum (stones, wood, roods) and on submerged plants in the water, on the banks, as well as on shore.The collected leeches were firstly transfered into 10 % ethanol, after which they were washed to remove the

Research Article
mucus and preserved in 70 -75 % ethanol.The material is deposited in the author's collections.The nomenclature and taxonomy followed Nesemann and Neubert (1999).
Alboglossiphonia heteroclita was reported Skadar Lake and a spring in Pljevlja (Blanchard 1905, Sket 1968, respectively) but without information which variety they found.Therefore, we can not assign their findings of G. heteroclita to any of the aforementioned Alboglossiphonia-species.Distribution: Holarctic.

Family Hirudinidae Whitman, 1886
Genus Hirudo Linnaeus, 1758 Hirudo medicinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) Remarks: This species was reported from Krupac (Blanchard 1905) and Pošćenska and Plavsko Lake (Sket 1968).However, as this species was in the past confused with Hirudo verbana, all former records from the Balkan area are questionable.Distribution: North, central and south-western Europe.
Distribution: Known from northern part of Montenegro and eastern part of Serbia.

Discussion
At the present state of knowledge, the number of species and subspecies of leeches recorded from Montenegro is 29 species and subspecies in 13 genera and 5 families.Montenegro provides suitable habitats for almost 30% of 96 species and subspecies of freshwater and terrestrial leeches recorded from Europe (Nesemann and Neubert 1999).When looking at the distribution of the species it is clear that the current knowledge of the diversity of the leeches is far from complete.In addition, it is reasonable to expect that this number will be changed due the following: 1) records of some species (e.g.Hirudo medicinalis, Trocheta subviridis) are doubtful, and additional material and field work are necessary to confirm its presence, 2) taxonomic status of some species are unclear (e.g., Glossiphonia cf.pulchella, Dina lineata dinarica, Dina lineata montana), 3) for some species known from the neighbouring countries (e.g.Trocheta danastrica, T. haskonis), there is good reason to assume that these species are expected to be found in the future in Montenegro, 4) further research on fish leeches (Piscicolidae) will undoubtedly increase the number of species known from Montenegro.The present study is exhaustive and constitutes the most complete list of leeches in Montenegro, aimed to stimulate further studies on this important group of invertebrates in Montenegro.