An order of chiefly marine crustaceans with a laterally compressed body and a large number of appendages like legs.
‘Neither Amphipoda nor Isopoda is known from the early Paleozoic when the Crustacea are generally represented in the fossil record by the valve-bearing Ostracoda.’
‘Because of their small size, Amphipoda are able to survive in caves.’
‘This Colloquium hosts every aspects of Amphipoda (systematics, genetics, evolution, ecology, physiology, range extensions, etc.), both freshwater and marine.’
Origin
Modern Latin (plural), from amphi-‘of both kinds’ (because some legs are specialized for swimming and some for feeding) + Greek pous, pod- ‘foot’.
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