Samples of freshwater mussels from the Volga and Don basins with information on the prevalence and intensity of Helobdella stagnalis infestation

The dataset supplements our article on the records of the leech species Helobdella stagnalis (Glossiphoniidae) from the mantle cavity of freshwater mussels (Unionidae) in Europe (Bolotov et al. 2022). It contains data on samples of freshwater mussels from the Volga and Don basins, European Russia with information on the prevalence and intensity of Helobdella stagnalis infestation. These samples were collected during the period of 15–28 June 2021. In total, 31 samples of 254 freshwater mussel specimens were examined. The samples contain five freshwater mussel species as follows (the number of collected specimens is given in parentheses): Anodonta anatina (Linnaeus, 1758) (N = 122), A. cygnea (Linnaeus, 1758) (N = 12), Unio crassus Philipsson in Retzius, 1788 (N = 9), U. pictorum (Linnaeus, 1758) and U. tumidus Philipsson in Retzius, 1788 (N = 111). The mantle cavity of each freshwater mussel specimen was examined, and leeches (Helobdella stagnalis; Glossiphoniidae) were collected using forceps. The samples of freshwater mussels and leeches are deposited in RMBH – Russian Museum of Biodiversity Hotspots, N. Laverov Federal Center for Integrated Arctic Research of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Arkhangelsk, Russia. The Leech Infestation Prevalence (LIP, %) and the intensity of leech infestation (ILI, leeches per mussel) were calculated as described in Bolotov et al. (2019). References Bolotov, I. N., Eliseeva, T. A., Kondakov, A. V., Gofarov, M. Y., Konopleva, E. S., Lyubas, A. A. & Vikhrev, I. V. (2022) Helobdella stagnalis (Hirudinea: Glossiphoniidae), the first facultative mussel-associated leech in Europe. Ecologica Montenegrina, 54, 32-43. https://doi.org/10.37828/em.2022.54.5 Bolotov, I. N. et al. (2019) Freshwater mussels house a diverse mussel-associated leech assemblage. Scientific Reports, 9, 16449. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-52688-3