Liropus minusculus
| Liropus minusculus | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Liropus minusculus | ||||||||||||
| Guerra-García & Hendrycks , 2013 |
Liropus minusculus is a species of amphipods that was described in 2013. It was discovered in a reef cave off the southern California island of Santa Catalina . It is the only known species of Liropusknownin the northeast Pacific .
Appearance
Like all members of the Caprellidae family , Liropus minusculus has a slender, translucent body that looks like a skeleton . With this shape and long limbs, the species camouflages itself excellently in its environment and resembles seaweed or other plants. The species is only 3.3 millimeters long, making it the smallest of the nine species of Liropus . Males have claw-like legs that they use to hold the female in place while mating. These legs are smaller in females. L. minusculus differs from the other members of Liropus mainly in the shape of its torso and that of the hind legs.
Way of life
Liropus minusculus lurks tightly clinging to stones or plants until prey appears.
habitat
The species lives in a cave about 30 m below the sea surface. The cave is located in the isthmus reef off the coast of the California island of Santa Catalina.
discovery
In May 2014 the International Institute for Species Research listed L. minusculus as one of the "Top 10 New Species" discovered in 2013. Researchers José Manuel Guerra-García and his colleague Ed Hendrycks examined the animals in the collection of the Canadian Museum of Natural History in Ottawa and found that it was a previously unknown species. They formally described the species as a new species in the "Zootaxa" of October 8, 2013. The name minusculus was chosen because the species is particularly small.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d James Vincent: New species of terrifying looking 'skeleton shrimp' discovered , The Independent, November 25, 2014, accessed August 4, 2015
- ↑ a b c d Beck Oskin: New Cave-Dwelling 'Shrimp' Discovered in California , Live Science, accessed August 4, 2015
- ↑ Lawrence LeBlond: Rich Biodiversity Of Species Makes Annual Top Ten List Of Discoveries , Red Orbit, accessed August 4, 2015
- ↑ JM Guerra-García & EA Hendrycks: A new species of Liropus (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Caprellidae) from California, USA, with an illustrated key of the genus. Zootaxa. 3718, 5, pp 467-476, 2013 doi : 10.11646 / zootaxa.3718.5.3