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Gammaridea

Gammaridea was one of the suborders of the order Amphipoda, comprising small, shrimp-like crustaceans. In a traditional classification, it encompassed about 7,275 (92%) of the 7,900 species of amphipods described by then, in approximately 1,000 genera, divided among around 125 families. That concept of Gammaridea included almost all freshwater amphipods, while most of the members still were marine.

Last revised
Jun 18, 2026
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Gammaridea
Gammarids from the Gulf of Naples[a]
Gammarids from the Gulf of Naplesa
Scientific classificationEdit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Amphipoda
Suborder: Gammaridea
Latreille, 1802
Groups included

See text

Gammaridea was one of the suborders of the order Amphipoda, comprising small, shrimp-like crustaceans. In a traditional classification, it encompassed about 7,275 (92%) of the 7,900 species of amphipods described by then, in approximately 1,000 genera, divided among around 125 families.1 That concept of Gammaridea included almost all freshwater amphipods, while most of the members still were marine.

The group is however considered paraphyletic, and was deconstructed in a series of papers by the amphipod taxonomists James K. Lowry and Alan A. Myers. In 2003 they moved several families from Gammaridea to join members of the former Caprellidea in a new suborder Corophiidea.2 Further, in 2013 another large suborder Senticaudata was established, which would encompass much of the original Gammaridea, particularly its freshwater families, and into which also the Corophiidea was merged.34 The remaining 85 Gammaridea families, of superfamilies Liljeborgioidea, Lysianassoidea and Eusiroidea were rearranged to the new suborder Amphilochoidea in the final subordinal revision (2017), which no longer recognizes Gammaridea as a taxon.56

References

References

  1. From left to right, top to bottom:
    • Gammarus locusta (Linnaeus, 1758) (♂ & ♀)
    • Amphithoe rubricata (Montagu, 1808) (♂)
    • Hyale pontica Rathke, 1836 (♂ & ♀)
    • Ampelisca rubella A. Costa, 1864 (♂)
    • Deshayesorchestia deshayesii (Audouin, 1826) (♂)
    • Apohyale prevostii (H. Milne Edwards, 1830) (♂ & ♀)
    • Podocerus brasiliensis (Dana, 1853) (♂)
    • Transorchestia chiliensis (H. Milne Edwards, 1840) (♂)
    • Aora gracilis (Spence Bate, 1857) (♂)
    • Maera grossimana (Montagu, 1808) (♂)
    • Orchestia gammarellus (Pallas, 1766) (♂)
    • Cymadusa crassicornis (Costa, 1853) (♀)
  1. John M. Foster; Sarah E. LeCroy; Richard W. Heard; Rita Vargas (2009). "Gammaridean amphipods". In Ingo S. Wehrtmann; Jorge Cortés (eds.). Marine Biodiversity of Costa Rica, Central America. Monographiae Biologicae. Vol. 86. Springer. pp. 265–274. ISBN 978-1-4020-8277-1.
  2. A. A. Myers & J. K. Lowry (2003). "A phylogeny and a new classification of the Corophiidea Leach, 1814 (Amphipoda)". Journal of Crustacean Biology 23 (2): 443–485. doi:10.1651/0278-0372
  3. Lowry, J.K. & Myers, A.A. (2013) A Phylogeny and Classification of the Senticaudata subord. nov. (Crustacea: Amphipoda). Zootaxa 3610 (1): 1-80.
  4. Senticaudata WoRMS
  5. Lowry, J.K.; Myers, A.A. (2017). "A Phylogeny and Classification of the Amphipoda with the establishment of the new order Ingolfiellida (Crustacea: Peracarida)". Zootaxa. 4265 (1). Magnolia Press: 001–089. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4265.1.1. PMID 28610392.
  6. World Amphipoda Database. Horton, T.; Lowry, J.; De Broyer, C.; et al. (eds.). "Introduction". World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
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