A checklist, with synonymical bibliography, of all benthic, supralittoral and pelagic Amphipoda (Gammaridea, Caprellidea and Hyperiidea) occurring in the Southern Ocean is drawn up, mostly from taxonomical literature checked until 31 December 1992. 883 taxa have been recorded: 711 spp. and subspp. of Gammaridea, 28 spp. of Caprellidea, 69 spp. and subspp. of Hyperiidea as well as 75 unidentified spp. (73 Gammaridea, 2 Caprellidea). Distribution in the East or West Antarctic sub-regions, in the Subantarctic Islands sub-region, in the Magellanic sub-region and in the Tristan da Cunha district is mentioned. Bathyal and abyssal benthic occurrence is indicated as well as the general bathymetrical distribution of the pelagic species occurring south of 45°S. The Barnard & Barnard (1983) coded geographic system for reporting distribution of taxa is revised for the Southern Ocean and a new list of geographic codes of general application for Antarctic and Subantarctic benthos is provided. The benthic Amphipod fauna of the Southern Ocean comprises 702 species (85 % endemic) of which 451 are distributed in the Antarctic region (78.4% endemic) and 342 in the Subantarctic region (50.8 % endemic). Endemicity at the genus level attains 36.7 % for the whole Southern Ocean, 26.2% for the Antarctic and 13.5% for the Subantarctic region respectively. |
