A New Species of Melita (Amphipoda:Gammaridae) from the Marshall Islands, Micronesia

Abstract

During the summers of 1968 and 1969, the author collected and studied amphipods from intertidal and subtidal lagoon habitats of three atolls (Eniwetok, Kwajalein, and Majuro) in the Marshall Islands, Micronesia. Particular emphasis was placed on collecting from calcareous sands and gravels, since most workers to date have reported on the more abundant epifaunal species (Schellenberg, 1938; Barnard, 1965). In addition, efforts were made to collect complete series of life history stages, and to study morphological variations, behavior, and general ecology of the more abundant species.