Stenothoe Dana, 1852

Krapp-Schickel, Traudl & Vader, Wim, 2015, Stenothoids living with or on other animals (Crustacea, Amphipoda), Zoosystematics and Evolution 91 (2), pp. 215-246 : 215

Taxon classification Animalia Amphipoda Stenothoidae

Genus Stenothoe Dana, 1852

Type species.

Stenothoe valida Dana, 1852

The diagnosis of this genus is summarized, it shows few eminent features: Md palp lacking totally, P 5 basis linear, P 6-7 basis widened, T laminar. The genus contains many apparently free-living species and others that are living in symbiosis with other marine invertebrates; these latter in many cases show greatly diminished sexual dimorphism.

Stenothoe species are mainly found in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, while few are living in the Pacific, in the region of Australia-New Zealand or in the Indian Ocean ( Krapp-Schickel 2015). There remains the strong suspicion that e.g. members living near Australia or in the Indian Ocean are not closely related to those from the Atlantic Ocean (urosome segments tend to lose their clear articulation in the former), but as the easier visible appendages such as legs or antennae match the generic definition, plus the fact that both have lost the Md palp (most probably an independent evolution), also these species are treated in the same genus Stenothoe , for the time being. Here we have examples of these different groups: