THE WOOD BORING HABITS OF CHELURA TEREBRANS 

 PHILIPPI IN LOS ANGELES HARBOR 



By 



J. Laurens Barnard 

 University of Southern California 



The taxonomic and ecologic history of the peculiar amphipod 

 Chelura terebrans dates from the year 1839, when Philippi first described 

 the animal from marine wood borings collected at Trieste. Since that 

 time the species has been considered a wood borer by most writers. Little 

 evidence has been given to support this view, other than : ( 1 ) the fact 

 that the animal lives in deteriorated wood associated with such other 

 organisms as the gribble, Limnoria sp., and the shipworm. Teredo sp. ; 

 (2) the presence of wood fragments in the gut of C. terebrans. 



The present paper gives evidence that C. terebrans is a true wood 

 boring agent and attempts to sketch a brief picture of its ecology in Los 

 Angeles Harbor. Previous reports on this animal from California have 

 been made by Barnard (1950, 1951). 



The writer is indebted to Dr. John L. Mohr, Dr. John S. Garth 

 and Mr. Charles Horvath for help in collecting materials and othenvise 

 in preparing this paper. The work was supported through the generosity 

 of the Allan Hancock Foundation and the Department of Zoology at 

 the University of Southern California. Mr. Joseph W. Bamberger 

 helped in making the photographs. 



METHOD OF CULTURE 



Living specimens of C. terebrans were studied in Los Angeles Harbor 

 and in the laboratory. Both natural and induced populations in the field 

 were examined. The term "natural" is not used in the normal sense as 



87 



