Terrestrial Amphipod
Legs
Grey Slater
S1, dorsal
| Terrestrial Amphipod Legs | | Grey Slater S1, dorsal | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Crustaceans (Malacostraca) | |||
| Order: | Crustaceans (Amphipoda) | ||||
| Family: | Landhoppers (Talitridae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Terrestrial Amphipod (Talitridae sp) | ||||
| This Photo: | Ventral | ||||
| Other names: | Landhoppers, Landshrimps, Scuds or Lawn Shrimps | ||||
General Species Information: Found in the Adelaide Hills and possibly elsewhere ~6mm long. Found in the front lawn of our place in Lobethal, in January on the shady side of a large tree. There's one here with different coloured antennae & legs to the others. They were all collected at the same time in the same location. This variation is possibly due to different species/gender/age. Thomas Mesaglio said "They need moisture/water to prevent drying out, but will drown with too much water. I think there are a few different genera/species as you'd expect, but the most common one in Australia is Arcitalitrus sylvaticus, which has also been introduced to the US, UK, NZ, etc". Chris Lambkin said "Yes we get lots of these on occassions when pan trapping as Thomas described. Even get them in Malaise Traps in moist environments. Interestingly when they die they turn orange, especially in alcohol!" Ian Gibbins said "Amphipods are terrestrial crustaceans. They are probably related to another group of terrestrial crustaceans, the Isopods, which include slaters and so-called pill bugs". "They are not especially closely related to true shrimps, prawns, etc. Amphipods are common in our garden in Belair - turn over a long standing pot or old brick, and they will spring out." | |||||
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