[1] The Czech zoologist Camill Heller first described this genus to contain the type species B.

[4] A few species are native to the Caucasus region, Anatolia, Hyrcania, and the Levant.

[4] The common species B. superus is especially widespread, found throughout Europe and introduced to the United States, Cape Verde, Madeira, the Azores, and the Canaries.

[5][6] This genus includes both small and medium-sized polydesmid millipedes.

[7][8] Species may be identified as members of this genus based on the form of their gonopods.