Beddard, 1892
Type species Branchiura sowerbyi Beddard, 1892
Number of species 1. In NWE, one species:
Branchiura sowerbyi Beddard, 1892
Description
Tubificids with smooth body, with hair and bifid chaetae in dorsal bundles and bifid chaetae in ventral bundles. Bifid chaetae with shorter upper tooth. Differing from all other tubificid genera, besides the anatomy of reproductive system, also in presence of finger-like gills. Sometimes separated into an independent monotypic subfamily Branchiurinae Hrabe, 1966, as it is devoid of large coelomocytes characteristic of Rhyacodrilinae.
Burrowing in sediment.
Distribution
Cosmopolitan, particularly frequent in tropical countries.
Ecology
In freshwater, preferring warm water bodies.
Reproduction
Sexual, with eggs laid in cocoons; architomy (fragmentation).
Literature
Beddard, 1892: 325; Hrabe, 1966: 70; Hrabe, 1981: 74; Brinkhurst and Jamieson, 1971: 562; Chekanovskaya, 1981: 363; Kasprzak, 1981: 151.