The name of a model species: the case of Orchestia cavimana (Crustacea: Amhipoda: Talitridae)

Abstract

The species commonly known as Orchestia cavimana belonging to the Talitridae family (Amphipoda) has been used as crustacean model species. Here, we point out that this talitrid amphipod species is related to species in the genus Orchestia but now falls under what is described as Cryptorchestia garbinii, which is a different species from the nominal species Cryptorchestia cavimana endemic to the Island of Cyprus. It is therefore important that future basic research and applied studies involving this model organism refer to it as C. garbinii. Its old assignment O. cavimana, or even C. cavimana, as still reported in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) GenBank and in recent papers, may lead to confusion.