Updated checklist and zoogeographic remarks of benthic amphipods (Crustacea: Peracarida: Amphipoda) of two coastal lagoons in the western Gulf of Mexico

Resumen

Estuarine amphipods of the western Gulf of Mexico represent mostly eurythermal species. Sampling took place in Summer and Winter on seagrass beds, macroalgae and bare substrates, at 75 localities in Laguna Madre and 34 in Laguna de Tamiahua, Mexico, with a Renfro beam net and an otter trawl. A total of 19,398 specimens of 19 species were collected. Cymadusa compta was dominant in both lagoons with 63.4% of the total abundance. First records are 7 species for Laguna Madre and 11 species for Laguna de Tamiahua. A literature review updated the number of species from the 19 collected to 29. An analysis of the species’ distribution produced 3 zoogeographic patterns: Warm and Caribbean, Warm Temperate and Caribbean, and temperate. A hierarchical cluster analysis of the geographic distribution data of the 29 species produced 2 assemblages: one with an affinity for the warmer regions of the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea and Brazil, and another associated with the temperate conditions of the northern Gulf of Mexico, the eastern USA, Canada and Argentina, each group indicating a preference for either higher or lower water temperatures.