Hyperiidea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 A hyperiid amphipod (Hyperia macrocephala)
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||
|
See text |
Hyperiidea is a suborder of amphipods, small aquatic crustaceans. Unlike the other suborders of Amphipoda, hyperiids are exclusively marine and do not occur in freshwater. Hyperiids are distinguished by their large eyes and planktonic habitat. Most species of Hyperiids are parasites or predators of salps and jellyfishes in the plankton, although Themisto gaudichaudii and a few relatives are free-swimming predators of copepods and other small planktonic animals.
[edit] Taxonomy
According to Vinogradov et al. [1], there are 233 species of Hyperiidea.
There is some controversy as to the number of families in the Hyperiidea, but the number is between 20 and 23. Here is the conservative list, of 20 families:
- Lanceolidae
- Chuneolidae
- Microphasmidae
- Archaeoscinidae
- Scinidae
- Mimonectidae
- Proscinidae
- Cystisomatidae
- Vibiliidae
- Paraphronimidae
- Hyperiidae
- Dairellidae
- Phronimidae
- Phrosinidae
- Lycaeopsidae
- Anapronoidae
- Lycaeidae
- Oxycephalidae
- Platyscelidae
- Parascelidae
[edit] Distribution
Hyperiidea are known from many oceans of the world, including 69 species in the Southern Ocean [2].
[edit] References
- ^ Vinogradov, M. E., A. F. Volkov & T. N. Semenova (1996). Hyperiid amphipods (Amphipoda: Hyperiidea) of the world. ISBN 1-886106-48-7.
- ^ De Broyer, C. & K. Jazdzewski (1993). Contribution to the marine biodiversity inventory: A checklist of the Amphipoda (Crustacea) of the Southern Ocean. Doc Trav Inst R Sci Nat Belg 73.
