The first population structure survey of the wood-rasping Tropichelura gomezi (Amphipoda: Cheluridae)
Cházaro-Olvera, S.; Winfield, I.; Martínez-López, B.A.; Ortiz, M. (2025). The first population structure survey of the wood-rasping Tropichelura gomezi (Amphipoda: Cheluridae). J. Nat. Hist. 59(29-32): 2071-2082. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2025.2530183
In: Journal of Natural History. Taylor & Francis: London. ISSN 0022-2933; e-ISSN 1464-5262, more
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| Authors | | Top |
- Cházaro-Olvera, S.
- Winfield, I.
- Martínez-López, B.A.
- Ortiz, M.
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| Abstract |
Cheluridae represents small marine and shallow amphipods composed of three genera: Chelura, Nippochelura and Tropichelura. The genera Tropichelura has been characterised as stenohaline and active burrowers occurring at around 3 m depth. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the population structure of Tropichelura gomezi collected in a few sunken pieces of wood in the Tuxpan Lobos Coral Reef System, south-western Gulf of Mexico. The amphipods were manually removed from the substrate, measured and organised as juveniles, females and males. A total of 710 specimens of Tropichelura gomezi were collected, and the juveniles represented the highest portion (37%). Based on Bhattacharya’s method, four and five age classes were found for males and females, respectively; using multi-model inference, the males had a maximum length of 6.06 to 6.82 mm, while the length of females was 6.06 to 6.12 mm. The overall sex ratio in this study was 1.47 females per male (p < .001). The survival rate was 27.8% for females and 14.9% for males, which corresponds to species characterised as following an ‘r’ strategy. The results showed a cost–benefit relationship between the population parameters, given a slow growth rate and a greater number of age class es. |
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