Ampithoe pollex Kunkel 1910

Ampithoe pollex Kunkel

Ampithoe pollex Kunkel, 1910:92–94, fig. 36.—J. L. Barnard, 1954a:29–31, pls. 27, 28; 1969a:190, fig. 8; 1969b:84.

VOUCHER MATERIAL.—GAL 102, male “k,” 3.44 mm (illus.).

RELATIONSHIP.—Galapagan specimens differ from continental specimens in the broader article 2 of pereopods 4–5, which resembles that seen in Ampithoe tahue. The rami of uropod 3 are generally smaller as in A. tahue. Tracing of the ancestry of A. tahue and A. vacoregue appears possible through these features, as well as conformity in lower lips and gnathopod 1. Ampithoe pollex often occurs in samples with A. tahue and A. vacoregue. The latter 2 species are known only in the female phase. Until their reproductive biology is studied, they are segregated at specific level rather than being considered phases of A. pollex.

The samples in which occur A. tahue and A. vacoregue also contain occasional juvenile males and very rarely terminal males of A. pollex; the juveniles have stout antenna 2 like juvenile females of the other two species, but whether or not these represent males of those species is unknown. The samples have been retained in mixed condition to facilitate future disentanglement of the problem.

MATERIAL.–SCO 1, 12, 13, 14, 19; KNO 2, 3, 5, 6, 10; PAZ 3, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24; GAL 102, 108, 109, 113, 114, 115, 116; DAW 1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 13, 16, 19, 21, 22, 26, 27, 33, 37; BRU 1.

DISTRIBUTION.—Bermuda and eastern Pacific Ocean from Coos Bay, Oregon into the Gulf of California and across to the Galapagos Islands, littoral and shallow sublittoral.