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.