The Beach Fleas and Sandhoppers (Amphipoda; Talitridae) of Trinidad

Amphipods are small to medium-sized crustaceans that occur abundantly in aquatic habitats world-wide. They are important chiefly because they convert basic plant and animal materials into a form of protein suitable as food for fishes and ultimately man. The terrestrial amphipods have been subdivided pragmatically into four main morphological-ecological groups. The terrestrial amphipods of Trinidad include representatives of the first three subgroups. Material of two seashore species, Platorchestia platensis (Kroyer) and Talorchestia sulensoni Stebbing, was collected by one of us (VCQ) in 1957. The purpose of this short paper is to list the species obtained and to describe the localities and habitats where they were encountered.