Status LU: present
		Status Eur.: established.
		RA: ISEIA: n/a. Harmonia+: n/a.
		Wikipedia: / | Wikispecies:/
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Report the species

→ Report Branchiura sowerbyi to the National Museum of Natural History.

Brief description

Branchiura sowerbyi Beddard, 1892 is a cosmopolite freshwater oligochaete. It is widespread in Europe and North America and also known in Asia, South America, Australia and South Africa. Its earliest records come from South East Asia and botanical gardens in Europe. Distribution patterns led to the conclusion that the species originated from the Sino-Indian region and was spread elsewhere by human activity. Fauna Europaea reports the species from 22 countries throughout Europe where it usually occurs in shallow, very warm stagnant or slowly flowing waters (Grabowski, M. & A. Jabłońska, 2009).

Status and distribution in Luxembourg

In 1959, Jules A. Hoffmann caught Branchiures in the Moselle River near Remich. Subsequent surveys revealed a massive population in the border section of the Moselle. Furthermore, the species was moving upstream along the lower Sûre: by 1965, it had passed Moersdorf (J. Hoffmann 1970). Mauch (1962, 1963) confirmed the presence of this non-native species in the Moselle River between Schengen and Wasserbillig (Dhur & Massard 1995). The species is said to have been present in France’s Moselle River since 1935. A few individuals were also observed in 2023 at a monitoring station on the Moselle in Palzem, across from Stadtbredimus, but not in the Sauer.

Risk assessment

ISEIA protocol

no assessed yet

Harmonia+ protocol

no assessed yet

Worldwide distribution

GBIF: https://www.gbif.org/taxon/N6WK

Bibliography

• Dhur, G. & J.-A. Massard, 1995. Etude historique et faunistique des invertébrés immigrés ou introduits dans la Moselle luxembourgeoise et ses affluents, Bulletin de la société des naturalistes luxembourgeoies, 96 (1995), p. 127 – 156.
• Grabowski, M. & A. Jabłońska, 2009. First records of Branchiura sowerbyi Beddard, 1892 (Oligochaeta: Tubificidae) in Greece, Aquatic Invasions (2009) Volume 4, Issue 2: 365-367.