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Population structure of Talitroides topitotum (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Talitridae) from Santa Maria, central region of Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil

ABSTRACT.

Tallitroides topitotum (Burt, 1934) (Talitridae) is one of the representatives of Amphipoda that has adapted to terrestrial environment. This research aimed to describe the population structure of this talitrid in the morphometric and reproductive aspects. The study was carried out in the central region of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, from June 2020 to May 2021. The talitrids were monthly collected with pitfalls exposed for 48 hours and they were sexed, photographed, and measured (body length, cephalic length, and marsupium length - in millimeters). Ovigerous females had their eggs counted and measured. In addition, we correlated the size data and the sampling latitudes of T. topitotum from previous and present studies. A total of 492 individuals were collected, from which 62 were ovigerous females, 188 non-ovigerous females, and 242 juveniles. No male was sampled. There was a significant correlation between body and head lengths and body and marsupium lengths in ovigerous females. We found no correlation between morphometric data and female fertility. Although not significant, there was a positive correlation between the size of talitrids and the latitude of occurrence. Body size can be inferred from head size, and marsupium size from body size, as both are strongly correlated. The absence of relationship between body size and fecundity may be related to environmental factors that can affect the talitrid reproduction. A clear relationship between the mean body size of T. topitotum and the latitude of their occurrence can be obtained with more studies conducted with a large sampling.

KEYWORDS.
Talitrids; terrestrial amphipod; cephalic length; morphometry

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