Floresorchestia Bousfield, 1984

Lowry, J. K., 2013, New species of Floresorchestia from Micronesia living in unusual habitats (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Talitridae), Zootaxa 3737 (5), pp. 576-584 : 577

Floresorchestia Bousfield, 1984

Remarks. Floresorchestia appears to be the most polytopic talitrid genus. Most species of Floresorchestia occur in the supralittoral zone under wrack, similar to other beach-hoppers. But some species are known from terrestrial environments in Vietnam ( Floresorchestia hanoiensis Hou & Li, 2003) and Singapore ( F. malayensis Tattersall, 1922 ), from near coast environments on the Indonesian island of Flores ( F. floresiana (Weber, 1892)) and in the South Pacific islands on mountain sides in the Marquesas Islands ( F. anoquesana (Bousfield, 1971) and F. marquesana (Stephensen, 1935) F. monospina (Stephensen, 1935)) , Samoa ( F. samoana (Bousfield, 1971)) and Fiji (F. vitilevana (J.L. Barnard, 1960)). In this paper we report a new species from the bottom of a freshwater stream and from a subtidal marine bottom, both in Micronesia. There are no obvious morphological adaptations to freshwater except possibly the cuticle that is flimsy for a talitrid.

Floresorchestia has colonised vacant terrestrial habitats on oceanic islands in the South Pacific. Other genera have moved into similar habitats in New Zealand and Australia, but these are highly specialised genera with numbers of morphological and physiological changes (Bousfield, 1968; Hurley, 1968; Friend & Richardson, 1986; Morritt & Spicer 1998). We should expect more species of Floresorchestia as islands previously unexplored for talitrids are studied.