Platorchestia platensis

Platorchestia platensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Crustacea
Class:	Malacostraca
Order:	Amphipoda
Family:	Talitridae
Genus:	Platorchestia
Species:	P. platensis
Binomial name
Platorchestia platensis (Krøyer, 1845)
Synonyms [1]
Orchestia agilis

Platorchestia platensis is a species of sand flea, an amphipod crustacean that lives on beaches.^[2]

Ecology

In common with other sand fleas of the family Talitridae, P. platensis lives above the littoral zone in moist sand or rotting seaweed.^[2] There appears to be competitive exclusion between P. platensis and the native Orchestia gammarellus on European beaches.^[2]

Distribution

The native range of P. platensis is not known in detail,^[2] but it is probably circumtropical.^[3] The species description was based on specimens collected near the commercial port of Montevideo, and the species probably spreads through ship's ballast.^[2] It was first discovered in northern Europe in 1860 on a beach near Humlebæk, Denmark.^[2] By the 1940s, it was common on both sides of the Kattegat; it reached the Netherlands around 1950, and the United Kingdom in 1978.^[2]

Taxonomy

External identifiers for Platorchestia platensis
ITIS	185827
WoRMS	103217

Platorchestia platensis was originally described as Orchestia platensis by Henrik Nikolai Krøyer in 1845, based on type material from the Río de la Plata in Uruguay.^[2]

References

Crustaceans portal

1. ^ D. J. Wildish (1988). "Ecology and natural history of aquatic Talitroidea". Canadian Journal of Zoology 66 (11): 2340–2359. doi:10.1139/z88-349. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} "Platorchestia platensis Krøyer, 1845 – a beachflea". Identification key to marine invasive species in Nordic waters. NOBANIS – European Network on Invasive Alien Species. http://www.nobanis.org/MarineIdkey/Small%20crustaceans/PlatorchestiaPlatensis.htm. Retrieved June 17, 2011. 
3. ^ "Platorchestia platensis, a sandhopper". Cook Islands Biodiversity Database. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust. 2007. http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org/species.asp?id=14670. Retrieved June 17, 2011.