Amphipod (order Amphipoda, family Talitridae)

Lawn shrimp, landhopper at Acton, ACT

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Identification history

	Amphipod (order Amphipoda, family Talitridae)	14 Sep 2022	MichaelMulvaney
	Amphipod (order Amphipoda, family Talitridae)	14 Sep 2022	TimL

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User's notes

Assumed to be a Landhopper or Lawn Shrimp, Arcitalitrus sylvaticus, as described on page 18 of Roger Farrow’s ‘Insects of South-Eastern Australia.’ In the first image the insect’s head is at the bottom left and towards the top right is the characteristic upward pointing sixth pair of legs. The insect apparently lives on its side as seen in the images. The insect was initially sighted hopping around crazily on a road at ANBG until it eventually came to rest. In the second image there appear to be dark round objects within the insect’s exoskeleton, as seen through the gaps in its legs. In the third image one of these objects appeared, attached to the insect’s front legs, and eventually ended up at its tail end, as seen in the final image. This is the first time I’ve seen one of these insects so am unsure what this particular behaviour was. Thanks to Barbara for help with this sighting.

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Location information

Coordinates 149.106150 -35.274950
Altitude 639.7m
Maps ANBG
Places Acton, ACT

Sighting information

1 Abundance
11 Sep 2022 10:45 AM Recorded on
TimL Recorded by
Collections
Other Arthropods Other Crustaceans Crustaceans (Crustacea) TimL Canberra & Southern Tablelands NatureMapr

Additional information

5mm to 12mm Animal size

Species information

Amphipod (order Amphipoda, family Talitridae) Scientific name
Lawn shrimp, landhopper Common name
Not Sensitive
Local native
Non-invasive or negligible
Up to 1040.47m Recorded at altitude
Machine learning
External link More information

Record quality

Images or audio
More than one media file
Verified by an expert moderator
Nearby sighting(s) of same species
GPS evidence of location
Description
Additional attributes

Australian Capital Territory

New South Wales

Queensland

Northern Territory

Western Australia

South Australia

Victoria

Tasmania