Urothoe is a genus of very small marine amphipod crustaceans in the family Urothoidae. Members of the genus are found worldwide.
Biology
Urothods are long and live on the sea bed or in shallow burrows in gravelly substrates or muddy sand. They can swim for short distances. They are vulnerable to dredging but are able to recover afterwards and re-establish their burrows. They are deposit feeders and also selectively scrape microorganisms from grains of sand.
Reproduction
Urothoe reaches sexual maturity at five months and may live for about a year. The sexes are distinct and breeding takes place in the summer months. Fertilisation is internal and there are about fifteen eggs per brood, produced in a cycle of about fifteen days. Fecundity is high and the juveniles grow fast but biological dispersal is very limited.
Species
Urothoe contains the following species:
Urothoe atlantica Bellan-Santini & Menioui, 2004
Urothoe bairdii Bate, 1862
Urothoe brevicornis Bate, 1862
Urothoe carda Imbach, 1969
Urothoe chosani Hirayama, 1992
Urothoe convexa Kim & Kim, 1991
Urothoe corsica Bellan-Santini, 1965
Urothoe coxalis Griffiths, 1974
Urothoe cuspis Imbach, 1969
Urothoe dentata Schellenberg, 1925
Urothoe denticulata Gurjanova, 1951
Urothoe elegans (Bate, 1857) Urothoe elizae Cooper & Fincham, 1974 Urothoe falcata Schellenberg, 1931 Urothoe femoralis K. H. Barnard, 1955 Urothoe gelasina Imbach, 1969 Urothoe grimaldii Chevreux, 1895 Urothoe hesperiae Conradi, Lopez-Gonzalez & Bellan-Santini, 1997 Urothoe intermedia Bellan-Santini & Ruffo, 1986 Urothoe irrostratus Dana, 1852 Urothoe latifrons Ren, 1991 Urothoe marina (Bate, 1857) Urothoe marionis Bellan-Santini & Ledoyer, 1987 Urothoe oniscoides (K. H. Barnard, 1932) Urothoe orientalis Gurjanova, 1938 Urothoe pestai Spandl, 1923 Urothoe pinnata K. H. Barnard, 1955 Urothoe platydactyla Rabindranath, 1971 Urothoe platypoda Griffiths, 1974 Urothoe poseidonis Reibish, 1905 Urothoe poucheti Chevreux, 1888 Urothoe pulchella (Costa, 1853) Urothoe rotundifrons J. L. Barnard, 1962 Urothoe ruber Giles, 1888 Urothoe serrulidactylus K. H Barnard, 1955 Urothoe spinidigitata Walker, 1904 Urothoe tumorosa Griffiths, 1974 Urothoe varvarini Gurjanova, 1953 Urothoe vemae J.L. Barnard, 1962 Urothoe viswanathi Asari, 1998 Urothoe wellingtonensis Cooper, 1974