(Michaelsen, 1901a)
Description
Large smooth, pink worms. Anterior dorsal bundles with hair and pectinate chaetae. Hair chaetae by 1-3, stiff, roughly pilose, 300-450 µm long; similar hair chaetae singly in posterior bundles. Anterior pectinate chaetae (2-3 per bundle, 98-110 µm long) with upper tooth thinner and straighter, like in posterior bundles; intermediate teeth much shorter than ordinary ones. In fixed worms anterior dorsal chaetae usually directed forward. Anterior ventral chaetae 1-3 per bundle, 110-130 µm long. Posterior crotchets very thick both in dorsal and ventral bundles, with enlarged, bent lower tooth. In mature individuals, ventral chaetae absent from XI. Spermathecal chaetae in X thin, straight and stick-shaped but with furrow on their distal part, 150-220 µm long. Length 25-35 mm, segment number 70-100. The species can be easily recognized by its very rough crotchets and straight, stiff hair chaetae, directed forwards in preserved specimens. In the related species Psammoryctides moravicus, intermediate teeth of dorsal pectinate chaetae are much longer, while Psammoryctides barbatus reveals completely different, spade-shaped pectinates. However, hindbody can look similar in all three species.
Burrowing in sediment.
Distribution
Palaearctic.
Ecology
In freshwater.
Reproduction
Sexual only. Eggs laid in cocoons.
Literature
Michaelsen, 1901a: 69-70; Ditlevsen, 1904: 416-417, Pl. XVI Figs 18-20, Pl. XVIII Figs 12-13; Brinkhurst and Jamieson, 1971: 481-482, Fig. 8.8G-I; Chekanovskaya, 1981: 332-334, Figs 164-165; Hrabe, 1981: 94-95, Pl. 16 Figs 18-23, Pl. 17 Fig. 8; Kasprzak, 1981: 169, Figs 622-627.