AMPITHOIDAE Stebbing, 1888

Graening, G. O., Rogers, D. Christopher, Holsinger, John R., Barr, Cheryl & Bottorff, Richard, 2012, Checklist of Inland Aquatic Amphipoda (Crustacea: Malacostraca) of California, Zootaxa 3544, pp. 1-27 : 3

AMPITHOIDAE Stebbing, 1888

Ampithoe lacertosa (Bate, 1858) (euryhaline)

Records & Comments: Found in algae and eelgrass, and in gravel and woody debris, in tidepools, wharf pilings and estuaries; distributed from Baja California to the Aleutian Islands, and Japan ( Conlan and Bousfield, 1982; Chapman 2007). We know of no specific records for California.

Ampithoe valida Smith, 1873 (euryhaline, exotic)

Records: CDWR reported it from San Pablo Bay near Pinole Point and mouth of Petaluma R., and from the Sacramento R. above Point Sacramento. Conlan and Bousfield (1982) report it from Newport Bay (Orange Co.).

Comments: An estuarine species ranging on the Pacific from Newport Bay to British Columbia, and also Japan, but probably native to the North American Atlantic coast. This tube builder occurs mainly along sheltered coasts and estuaries, mainly in mesohaline to brackish waters, and is abundant in algae and fouling communities of pilings and mudflats ( Conlan and Bousfield 1982; Barnard 1989; Chapman 2007).