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Photo#1012751
_MG_5196

_MG_5196
Dead Horse Bay, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, USA
November 25, 2006

Moved
Moved from Uhlorchestia uhleri. Sorry about the erroneous move; I guess I misinterpreted the meanings of "much wider" and "similar width" regarding antenna 2 peduncle vs. flagellum. See below for a full explanation:

Moved

Moved
Moved from Beach Hoppers. Female. Tentative ID.

 
Thank You
I didn't have the guts to move it myself.

You might want to recheck Rob Curtis' example here. The description says "Antennula not quite reaching the distal extremity of the penultimate segment of the antenna". This is not an issue for my image but Rob's example seems to have the flagellum of the right antennal going well beyond the penultimate segment of the antenna. This applies to males and I don't know what the gender is for Rob's example. Also, I may be misunderstanding and/or the angles may be such that I am wrong about what I think I'm seeing. Please forgive the comment if it way off base.

 
I think you're right
See my comment on the image and the linked submission. As I said, we'll need an expert to sort this out.

 
A newer talitrid key
I've been using The Arthrostraca of Connecticut but found another key from 1998 that's simpler.(1). In that one, this keys to Uhlorchestia uhleri, described in 1930 (hence its absence in the older key.). I'm not sure whether I misidentified yours originally or simply keyed it out without a full list of species. I'm going to check that but I have a sinking feeling about it... On a happier note, my Platorchestia platensis specimen keys out the same and Rob Curtis's keys out in that source to Orchestia grillus, which, unlike "Orchestia palustris," is in WoRMS. My "Orchestia palustris" (below) now keys out to Uhlorchestia uhleri. I've checked and rechecked each of these ID's so I'm pretty sure I didn't make any mistakes this time (though I'd always welcome a second look.). Unfortunately, the online version on Google books is only a preview and the preview shows different pages every time so there's a good chance you won't be able to see the key as I can right now. If you can't, here are the characters used: antenna 2 segment 3 much wider than flagellum in O. platensis, similar width in the other two species I've mentioned; and antenna 2 flagellum of >20 segments in O. grillus, 12 in the other two. Also included are two Americorchestia species (both on BugGuide), easily separated from the other genera by the much larger eyes, lighter coloration and, in the case of A. longicornis, very long second antennae.


Suspect Platorchestia platensis
*

 
Thanks!
I added a page for that species so we wouldn't loose the research and it will almost certainly be used at some point. My impression is that my photo may be difficult to ID. What is it that you see which causes you to think it's that species? Thanks for the tip.

 
Coloration, especially of the antennae
I've seen them many times; I've found them to be extremely abundant in marshy areas.

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