@conference{
author = "Roljić, Rajko and Atanacković, Ana and Nikolić, Vera and Marković, Vanja and Zorić, Katarina",
year = "2024",
abstract = "Branchiobdellidans are clitellate annelids that occur mainly on astacoidean crayfishes as obligate epibionts. In Europe, all native species belong to the genus Branchiobdella Odier, 1823, which is represented by nine species. Of these, five species have been recorded in the Western Balkans Branchiobdella astaci Odier, 1823, B. parasita (Braun, 1805), B. pentadonta Whitman, 1882, B. hexadonta Grüber, 1883, B. italica Canegallo, 1928, and B. balcanica Moszynsky, 1938. The aim of the work is to improve our knowledge of the occurrence of these species in the Balkan region. Samples of Austropotamobius torrentium were collected from three streams: Miljevka, Govza and Bistrica, belonging to the River Drina basin in the municipality of Foča in south-eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. Based on the morphological characteristics of the jaw - shape and dentation, the following species were identified: Branchiobdella parasita and species from the pentadonta complex. Since the two species of the pentadonta complex, B. italica and B. pentadonta, are morphologically very similar and both were previously found on A. torrentium, an exact identification of the species is possible using molecular-phylogenetic analyses that are planned in upcoming period. The obtained results are consistent with the literature data. However, if confirmed, the finding of B. italica on stone crayfish from the Black Sea basin would be of particular importance. Until now, the distribution of B. italica was restricted only to the watercourses of the Adriatic Sea basin.",
publisher = "Zagreb: Croatian Ecological Society",
journal = "Book of abstracts: International Association of Astacology Symposium 24: IAA24; 2024 Sep 16-20; Zagreb, Croatia",
title = "A contribution to the knowledge of the Branchiobdella species of the Balkan region",
pages = "125",
url = "https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_ibiss_7029"
}
