Alicella

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Alicella gigantea
Alicella gigantea.png
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Subphylum:
Crustacea
Class:
Malacostraca
Order:
Amphipoda
Family:
Alicellidae
Genus:
Alicella

Chevreux, 1899
Species:
A. gigantea
Binomial name
Alicella gigantea
Chevreux, 1899 [1]

Alicella gigantea is the largest species of amphipod ever observed, with some individuals reaching up to 34 centimetres (13 in) long.[2][3] Formerly included in the family Lysianassidae, a new family, Alicellidae, was erected in 2008 for Alicella and five related genera.[4] The species lives only at great depths; the first specimens were collected at the end of the 19th century from the Madeira Abyssal Plain, and subsequent specimens have been found in other abyssal plains of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans,[5] as well as from the Kermadec Trench in the southwest Pacific.[3] One specimen was found in the stomach of a black-footed albatross, but is thought to have been dead before it was eaten.[5]

References[]

  1. ^ "Alicella gigantea Chevreux, 1899". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
  2. ^ J. L. Barnard & Camilla L. Ingram (1986). "The supergiant amphipod Alicella gigantea Chevreux from the North Pacific Gyre". Journal of Crustacean Biology. 6 (4): 825–839. doi:10.2307/1548395. JSTOR 1548395.
  3. ^ a b Rebecca Morelle (2 February 2012). "'Supergiant' crustacean found in deepest ocean". BBC News. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
  4. ^ J. K. Lowry & C. de Broyer (2008). "Alicellidae and Valettiopsidae, two new callynophorate families (Crustacea: Amphipoda)" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1843: 57–66.
  5. ^ a b Claude de Broyer & Michael H. Thurston (1987). "New Atlantic material and redescription of the type specimens of the giant abyssal amphipod Alicella gigantea Chevreux (Crustacea)". Zoologica Scripta. 16 (4): 335–350. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.1987.tb00079.x.
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