''Megalorchestia californiana'' is a species of sand-hopper in the family

Talitridae Talitridae is a family of amphipods. Terrestrial species are often referred to as landhoppers and beach dwellers are called sandhoppers or sand fleas. The name sand flea is misleading, though, because these talitrid amphipods are not siphonapter ...

. It was first described in 1851 by the German naturalist

Johann Friedrich von Brandt Johann Friedrich von Brandt (25 May 1802 – 15 July 1879) was a German-Russian natural history, naturalist, who worked mostly in Russia. Brandt was born in Jüterbog and educated at a Gymnasium (school), gymnasium in Wittenberg and the Humboldt ...

and is the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

of the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Megalorchestia ''Megalorchestia'' is a genus of sand-hoppers in the family Talitridae. The genus was erected by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich von Brandt in 1851 and the type species is ''Megalorchestia californiana''. Species The World Register of Ma ...

''. It is commonly known as the long-horned beach hopper.

Distribution and habitat

''M. californiana'' is native to the west coast of North America where its range extends from

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...

in British Columbia to

Laguna Beach, California Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish language, Spanish for "Lagoon") is a seaside resort city located in southern Orange County, California, in the United States. It is known for its mild year-round climate, scenic coves, environmental preservat ...

. It is found on slightly sloping sandy beaches and retreats far up the beach, in contrast to the short-horned beach hopper ('' Megalorchestia corniculata'') which is found on steeply sloping sandy shores and does not occur so high up the beach.

Ecology

''M. californiana'' tends to hide in a shallow burrow or under heaps of dead

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

during the day, emerging at night or in dull weather to feed on decaying seaweed or organic debris left behind by beach-goers. Just before dawn the beach hoppers retreat under the sand and can sometimes be seen fighting each other for possession of an existing burrow in preference to digging a new one.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4474849 Gammaridea Crustaceans described in 1851