Ecology and natural history of aquatic Talitroidea

Abstract

A review of the ecology of amphipods belonging to the superfamily Talitroidea (Crustacea, Amphipoda) is presented. Species of Talitroidea are characteristically able to hop by rapid flicks of the urosome. They include land hoppers, which are true land-inhabiting forms excluded from detailed consideration in this review, as well as aquatic Talitroidea. Aquatic Talitroidea are found throughout much of the world in freshwater, estuarine, and marine conditions in littoral and infralittoral habitats, and an ecological habitat classification is presented. Subjects discussed include taxonomy, life history, dispersal, and the ecological factors affecting the survival of shore hoppers. The synecological role of shore hoppers in the aquatic ecosystem, e.g., in mineralizing primary production, is relatively minor although it may be locally important. The evolutionary ecology of land hopper origins from ancestors resembling shore hoppers is discussed, in the absence of direct evidence, based on likely colonization routes suggested by the distribution of contemporary talitroids.

Invasion of the continents: cyanobacterial crusts to tree-inhabiting arthropods

“…This process of terrestrialization has recently been illustrated by the repeated invasion of available land by crustacean arthropods. This includes talitrid amphipods that invaded continents during the Late Cretaceous [72] and a lineage of grapsid crabs that colonized Jamaica ~ 4 million years ago [73].…”

Genetic relationships between ecologically divergent species of talitrid amphipod (Crustacea)

“…Griffiths & Stenton-Dozey 1981) and levels of production (Venables 1981). They are exploited by a large range of predators, including fish, birds, mammals and other wrack invertebrates (reviewed by Wildish 1988). The family Talitndae exhibits many adaptations for semi-terrestrial and terrestrial life, and is unique among amphipods in having fully terrestrial representatives (Hurley 1959).…”

Crypsis in sandhoppers

“…In spite of their good background matching, sandhoppers are still recognized as prey by several species of shore birds (Branch & Branch, 1981;Evans, 1988;Wildish, 1988;Koch, 1989). However, if a sandhopper is artificially exposed in its hiding place by removing the sand, it will usually jump several times in a random direction before burrowing into the sand again, or else abandon the disturbed area as quickly as possible (Ugolini 1989b(Ugolini , 1990Di Napoli et al, 1992).…”

“…None of these papers, moreover, deal with crustaceans which have, however, been the subject of several qualitative observations (see Wickstein, 1983;Noel, 1985 for recent reviews). Little documentation is available on prédation of sandhoppers: their main vertebrate predators seem to be shore birds (Branch & Branch, 1981;Evans, 1988;Wildish, 1988;Koch, 1989) and small littoral fish (Smallwood, 1903;Koch, 1989, Ugolini, 1989a.…”