Lost and found – Fritz Müller´s type material of Glossiphonia verrucata (Fr. Müller, 1844) (Hirudinida, Glossiphoniidae) with notes on the leech fauna of lake Tegel in Berlin (Germany)

Uwe Jueg,Peter Michalik

doi:10.3897/evolsyst.2.30793

Abstract

In 1844, the famous German biologist Fritz Müller published his dissertation about the leech fauna of lakes in Berlin. This study not only addressed the occurrence of leeches in the different lakes, but also contains the description of a new species -Glossiphoniaverrrucata(Fr. Müller, 1844). Unfortunately, he never mentioned how many specimens he found and where he deposited the material of his dissertation research. Thus, it came as a surprise that the material appeared in the small leech collection of the Zoological Museum of the University of Greifswald. Here, we provide an overview of the material focusing especially on the four syntypes ofG.verrucata. Since this is a rarely found species, we further explored historical material from the type locality, Lake Tegel, held in other museums. Our survey revealed that the material collected by Müller is the only one known to date from the species-rich Lake Tegel, which is inhabited by 14 species of freshwater leeches.

Highlights

IntroductionMüller did not mention where his material was deposited (see Müller 1844) indicating that the material in the collection of the ZIMG could be the type material of Fritz Müller (Jueg 2015)
The collection of leeches (Hirudinea) of the Zoological Institute and Museum of the University of Greifswald (ZIMG) is considerably small, but with 31 taxa the most diverse public collection of leeches in the state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Jueg 2015)
The original description of Glossiphonia verrucata can be found in the dissertation thesis „Hirudinibus circa Berolinum hucusque observatis” of Fritz Müller, but without any remark on the number of collected individuals and on the fate of the material on which the description is based on (Müller 1844)

Summary

Introduction

Müller did not mention where his material was deposited (see Müller 1844) indicating that the material in the collection of the ZIMG could be the type material of Fritz Müller (Jueg 2015) We investigate this collection further by providing an overview of the collection Fr. Müller, revising the type material of Glossiphonia verrucata as well as presenting an overview of other historical records from Lake Tegel, which is the type locality of this rare species. Of Natural History in Berlin does not have any material from Müller, the following specimens seem to be the only ones left from the leech collection of Fritz Müller: Alboglossiphonia heteroclita (Linnaeus, 1761) Berlin, Date?, leg.

Material and methods

Results

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Discussion