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Sphaeromatidae

{{Short description|Family of isopods}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Gnorimosphaeroma_oregonensis_-_o2.jpg

| image_caption = Gnorimosphaeroma oregonensis

| display_parents = 2

| taxon = Sphaeromatidae

| authority = Latreille, 1825

| type_genus = Sphaeroma

| subdivision_ranks = Genera

| subdivision =

}}

File:Lekanesphaera rugicauda, France 1.jpg

Sphaeromatidae is a family of isopods, often encountered on rocky shores and in shelf waters in temperate zones.{{cite book |last1=Poore |first1=Gary CB |last2=Lew Ton |first2=Helen M |last3=Bruce |first3=Niel L. |year=2002 |chapter=Sphaeromatidae Latreille, 1825 |editor1-last=Poore |editor1-first=Gary C. B. |title=Zoological Catalogue of Australia |volume=19 |publisher=Csiro Publishing |page=221 }} The family includes almost 100 genera and 619 known marine species (and about 65 in fresh water). Within these genera, there are groups that share distinctive morphologies; further research may reclassify these genus-groups as separate families.{{cite journal |last1=Poore |first1=Gary C. B. |last2=Bruce |first2=Niel L. |date=September 2012 |title=Global Diversity of Marine Isopods (Except Asellota and Crustacean Symbionts) |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=7 |issue=9 |pages=e43529 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0043529 |pmid=22952700 |pmc=3432053 |doi-access=free }}

Description

Many species have a dorsoventrally compressed body shape, often with a vaulted dorsum, and some are strongly flattened (scale-like).

Ecology

Sphaeromatidae are browsers or detritus feeders. Xynosphaera appear to have incisory mandibles; Xynosphaera colemani burrows into the tissue of alcyonacean corals.Bruce NL (2003) New genera and species of sphaeromatid isopod crustaceans from Australian marine coastal waters. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 60: 309–370. Some genera of Sphaeromatidae associate with sponges, particularly Oxinasphaera.Bruce NL (1997) Order Isopoda. Sea Lice. In: Richmond MD, editor. A guide to the seashores of eastern Africa and the western Indian Ocean Islands: SIDA/SAREC. pp. 198–201.

Genera

The family contains the following genera:{{cite web |author1=Niel L. Bruce |author2=Marilyn Schotte |name-list-style=amp |year=2011 |title=Sphaeromatidae |editor1=M. Schotte |editor2=C. B. Boyko |editor3=N. L. Bruce |editor4=G. C. B. Poore |editor5=S. Taiti |editor6=G. D. F. Wilson |work=World Marine, Freshwater and Terrestrial Isopod Crustaceans database |publisher=World Register of Marine Species |url=http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=118277 |access-date=August 31, 2011}}

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See also

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

{{Wikispecies}}

  • [http://isopods.nhm.org/ "Cute As Buttons"]

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Category:Isopod families

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