“Prodigal Son”: Ukrainian scientists have discovered a new species of leeches from Antarctica. PHOTO
[ad_1]
Ukrainian scientists have discovered a new species of Antarctic leeches, whose ancestors migrated to the Arctic millions of years ago and then returned to the Antarctic.
The discovery was made by zoologists Andrii and Serhii Utevski in collaboration with foreign colleagues Aleksandr Bielecki and Joanna Cihotska from Poland, Mario Santoro from Italy and Peter Trontel from Slovenia.
The research was published in the journal Systematics and Biodiversity, the National Antarctic Science Center reports.
Together, the scientists studied the spread of fish parasites – piscicolid leeches.
Having discovered a new species, zoologists carefully studied its external and internal structure, as well as nuclear and mitochondrial genes.
“It turns out that the new leech belongs to a group called ‘platybdelines’. They are found in the Arctic and adjacent waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It’s like finding a polar bear in the Antarctic!”, – says Serhii Utevskyi.
Read also: Ice continent and penguins that cannot be hugged. What do you know about Antarctica? TEST
| Photo: National Antarctic Science Center |
Next, scientists began to study how such an extraordinary geographical distribution could arise, because most animals live exclusively in either the Northern or the Southern Hemisphere.
“Phylogenetic analysis and reconstruction of ancestral habitats proved that fish leeches originated in the seas around the Antarctic, then they spread through the World Ocean, reached the Arctic and penetrated into the fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere.
However, later the ancestor of our species returned from the north to the ancestral homeland of the entire family of fish leeches in the Antarctic.”the researchers found.
The molecular clock showed that the new species split from its northern relatives around 1.76 million years ago during the Pleistocene, when the Earth’s surface cooled significantly. It was during this era that he was able to cross the tropics.
 |
| Ukrainian scientists discovered a new species of leeches from the Antarctic that migrated twice and named it Austroplatybdellina prodiga |
Scientists assigned the new species to a new genus, which they named Austroplatybdellina, which translates from Latin as “southern platybdellina”, because this Antarctic leech belongs to the mostly northern group of platybdelina.
The full official name of the species new to science is Austroplatybdellina prodiga.
“The evolutionary history of the new species reminded us of the parable of the prodigal son, who left his father and wandered in distant lands, just like platybdeline leeches in the northern seas. Later, one of them returned to the southern ancestral homeland. In Latin, “prodigal” is “prodiga “”– said Serhii Utevskyi.
 |
| The discovery was made by zoologists Andrii and Serhii Utevski together with foreign colleagues |
The Utevski brothers are famous researchers of the polar regions from Kharkiv (Kharkiv National University named after V. N. Karazin).
They have been studying leeches of different regions for many years: Serhiy – arctic, and Andriy – antarctic (he was a winterer of the 8th UAE and a participant in numerous seasonal expeditions to the “Akademik Vernadskyi” station).
“Currently, they have discovered 19 animal species new to science”– the scientific center adds.
We will remind, earlier Ukrainian polar explorers showed how penguins wait for the appearance of babies.
Read also: Nests at an altitude of 130-150 meters above sea level: what Ukrainian polar explorers learned about penguins
[ad_2]
Original Source Link
