Pseudobiceros bedfordi, (common names Persian carpet flatworm and Bedford's flatworm) is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of flatworm

Flatworm

The flatworms, known in scientific literature as Platyhelminthes or Plathelminthes are a phylum of relatively simple bilaterian, unsegmented, soft-bodied invertebrate animals...

 in the family Pseudocerotidae.

This species has two penises, which it uses to fence

Penis fencing

Penis fencing is a mating behavior engaged in by certain species of flatworm, such as Pseudobiceros hancockanus. Species which engage in the practice are hermaphroditic; each individual has both egg-producing ovaries and sperm-producing testes....

, in an attempt to inject sperm into its opponent in order to fertilize it, while avoiding being fertilized itself.

Description

Pseudobiceros bedfordi is a large polyclad flatworm approximately 8-10 cm in length. It has a distinctive pattern consisting of a brown to black background, with multiple transverse, bilateral pink lines around thousands of tightly spaced, bright yellow spots, pink undulating spots with stripes on the sides of the body.

The edges of the body are usually ruffled. The underside of Pseudobiceros bedfordi is pale pink. The front of the body has a pair of erect pseudotentacles.

Distribution

This species is found in Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, Malaysia, Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

, Micronesia

Micronesia

Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is distinct from Melanesia to the south, and Polynesia to the east. The Philippines lie to the west, and Indonesia to the southwest....

, Northern Mariana Islands

Northern Mariana Islands

The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , is a commonwealth in political union with the United States, occupying a strategic region of the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines...

, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...

, Myanmar

Myanmar

Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

, and Palau

Palau

Palau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Tokyo. In 1978, after three decades as being part of the United Nations trusteeship, Palau chose independence instead of becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a...

.

Habitat

Pseudobiceros bedfordi is found on coral rubble and ledges in back reefs, coastal bays, and in lagoons.

Diet

Pseudobiceros bedfordi feeds on ascidians and on crustaceans that are small enough to swallow.

Reproduction

Like all flatworms in the genus Pseudobiceros, they are hermaphroditic

Hermaphrodite

In biology, a hermaphrodite is an organism that has reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes.Many taxonomic groups of animals do not have separate sexes. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which both...

and have two penises. During mating, they fence with one another using their penises attempting to stab and inject sperm in their opponent, while avoiding being fertilized themselves. They are able to inseminate their opponent by injecting their sperm into any region of the other's body they are able to penetrate. After successfully injecting the other, the sperm streams through their partner's body on their way to ovaries, where they will fertilize the eggs. The stream is visible through the body tissue of the worm, appearing as pale streaks like lightning jags.