Studies on the New Zealand Amphipodan Fauna 
No. 8. Terrestrial Amphipods of the Genus Talitrus Latr. 1 
D. E. Hurley 2 
INTRODUCTION 
Terrestrial amphipods belong to the crus- 
tacean family Talitridae and are of particular 
interest to Pacific workers as they are endemic 
to the Indo-Pacific region. Several of the 
species, especially the genus Talitrus , have 
been described first from material collected 
in Europe but without exception these col- 
lections have been from public gardens or 
hothouses where they have obviously been 
introduced accidentally by human agency. 
During systematic studies on the New Zea- 
land Talitridae, particular attention was paid 
to the terrestrial species. A surprisingly large 
number of species belonging to several gen- 
era occur in New Zealand and form an im- 
portant element of the leafmould fauna. Most 
of these belong to the genera Orchestia and 
Talorchestia and will be reported on elsewhere. 
However, one species of Talitrus was found 
to be very common on both islands. This 
species is here described and figured. In order 
to clarify its systematic position it was neces- 
sary to examine material from other Pacific 
countries and some confusion in previous 
identifications was revealed. With the assist- 
1 This study is part of an investigation carried out 
at Victoria University College, Wellington, New Zea- 
land, during the tenure of a New Zealand University 
Research Fund Fellowship. Other papers in the series 
appear in the Transactions of the Royal Society of New 
Zealand. Manuscript received April 12, 1954. 
2 Portobello Marine Biological Station, Port Chal- 
mers, New Zealand. 
ance of material not available to previous 
workers it has been possible to make a number 
of corrections which are detailed below. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
I am extremely grateful to Professor E. 
Percival and to the Canterbury University 
College Council and Library for allowing me 
the use of the Chilton Collection of literature 
and specimens; to Dr. K. H. Barnard of the 
South African Museum and to Mr. E. H. 
Bryan, Jr. of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, 
Honolulu, for kind assistance with literature; 
to Dr. Keith Sheard, C.S.I.R.O., Division of 
Fisheries, at the University of Western Aus- 
tralia, for helpful advice and for checking 
certain material for me; to the directors of the 
Australian Museum, Sydney, and the South 
Australian Museum for the loan of material 
for comparison; to various interested persons 
who have collected New Zealand material for 
me; and especially to Professor L. R. Richard- 
son of Victoria University College, Welling- 
ton, for his advice and encouragement 
throughout this work. 
Genus Talitrus Latreille, 1802 
Latreille, 1802: 148 (partim). 
Stebbing, 1906: 521. 
Barnard, 1916: 222. 
Hunt, 1925: 854-863. 
Carl, 1934: 746-747. 
Schellenberg, 1934: 159- 
Burt, 1934: 181-191. 
144 
