MELITIDAE Bousfield, 1973

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 : 20

MELITIDAE Bousfield, 1973

Melita nitida Smith, 1873 or setiflagella Yamato, 1988 (estuarine, exotic)

Records: Contra Costa Co. Point Richmond and Lake Merritt ( Carlton 1979); Suisun Bay and Grizzly Bay (CDWR database). Los Angeles Co. San Gabriel R. estuary ( Cadien 2007); “ Malibu Creek, about 0.5 mile downstream of Century Reservoir ” (identified only to genus), and Cold Cr. (tributary to Malibu Cr.), 2002, M. Born and M. Abramson. Monterey Co. Elkhorn Slough ( Carlton 1979; Sheridan 1979). Sacramento Co. Sacramento R. (CDWR database). San Francisco Co. San Francisco Harbor ( Chapman 1988). Solano Co. Suisun Bay and Grizzly Bay (CDWR database).

Comments: M. nitida is an estuarine species that can tolerate very low salinities and is found in estuaries and freshwater seeps in its native range along the east coast of North American from the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the Yucatan Peninsula ( Bousfield 1973; Sheridan 1979; Chapman 1988). On the west coast, it has established from British Columbia to Long Beach Harbor, probably in association with Atlantic oyster shipments ( Carlton 1979; Chapman 1988; Cadien 2007). However, the Asian M. setiflagella is apparently indistinguishable from the California populations ( Jarrett and Bousfield 1996); therefore it may be that this species was introduced from Asia, rather than the Atlantic ( Chapman 2007).