(No common name)

FAMILY

Thermosbaenidae

TAXONOMY

Thermosbaena mirabilis Monod, 1924, El Hamma, Tunisia.

OTHER COMMON NAMES

None known.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

The body is more or less cylindrical in shape, with the thorax somewhat shorter than the abdomen. The thorax bears only five pairs of legs, each with well-formed exopods. The maxilliped is modified and lacks an endopod. The abdomen has two small pairs of pleopods on its first and second segments. The telson is quite large, as long as the last three abdominal somites. Eyes are not present. (Illustration shown in chapter introduction.)

DISTRIBUTION

Known only from a limited number of thermal springs in Tunisia.

HABITAT

Thermal springs with temperatures above 111°F (44°C), generally with highly mineralized water.

BEHAVIOR

Crawls on the surfaces of rocks in search of food.

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

Thermosbaena mirabilis has been found to feed on several species of blue-green algae in the thermal springs.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

The testes are located in posterior part of the head and the first somite of the thorax. Long vasa deferentia lead from the thorax to the end of the abdomen and then back to the eighth thoracic somite where the male gonopore is located. Ovaries occupy the entire thorax in females, with the gonopore

on the sixth thoracic somite. When mature the ovary also extends into the abdomen. Eggs are carried in a brood pouch formed by a lobe of the female carapace, although deposition of the eggs in this location has never been observed. When shed from the brood pouch, the young have five pairs of thoracic limbs beyond the maxilliped and look like miniature adults.

CONSERVATION STATUS

The animal disappears when the baths are cleaned, but apparently repopulates afterward, perhaps from a larger population living deep underground. Not listed by IUCN.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS

None known.