Bretscher, 1900b
Type species Bichaeta sanguinea Bretscher, 1900b
Number of species 1. In NWE, one species:
Bichaeta sanguinea Bretscher, 1900b
Description
Small red worms. Prostomium rounded. External secondary annulation well expressed. Chaetae two per bundle, sigmoid with nodulus, bifid with small upper tooth. Male pores in X, clitellum in IX-XII(XIII). Pharyngeal glands in III-VII. Chloragogen tissue on digestive tube beginning from VII. No posterior blind appendages on dorsal vessel. Testes and male funnels in IX and X, posterior pair of vasa deferentia penetrate into XI and back to X. Atria pear-shaped in X, with very thick muscle layer, and narrow efferent duct; no penes. Ovaries in XI. Spermathecae lacking, although mentioned and depicted in XI in some descriptions (e.g., Piguet and Bretscher, 1913; the same figure copied by Cook, 1971a and Kasprzak, 1981). This confusion may be caused by Piguet, 1913 who redescribed Bichaeta sanguinea as Trichodrilus sanguineus, depicting it with spermathecae like in the other members of that genus. However, Hrabe, 1936a did not find any spermathecae in the same specimens. Differing from the other small lumbriculids with bifid chaetae (Stylodrilus and Trichodrilus) mainly in lack of spermathecae.
Burrowing in sediment.
Distribution
Europe.
Ecology
In freshwater.
Reproduction
Sexual but apparently parthenogenetic, with eggs laid in cocoons.
Literature
Bretscher, 1900b: 444-445; Pierantoni, 1904: 1; Piguet, 1913: 111; Piguet and Bretscher, 1913: 155-156, Fig. 39A; Hrabe, 1936a: 14-16, Figs 9-11; Cook, 1971a: 238-239, Figs 5.2D, 5.13H-I; Kasprzak, 1981: 209, Figs 745, 840.