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The malacostracan crustacean order Cumacea was not treated in Galtsoff’s (1954) The Gulf of Mexico: Its Origin , Waters, and Marine Life. The present synopsis deals with the species of cumaceans that are currently known or verifiably reported from the Gulf of Mexico (GMx). As a group, cumaceans from the Gulf region still remain poorly known, especially those taxa from deepwater environments . Most published species records come from inshore, coastal, and shelf waters. Pequegnat, Gallaway, and Pequegnat (1990) reported the presence of 76 species from depths greater than 300 m of the Gulf, but no taxonomic designations for these deep-sea taxa were listed in their publication. To date, with the exception of Petrescu and Heard (2005), no specific data for the deepwater species from the Gulf have been formally published. In this synopsis we list and annotate the recognized species reported from the Gulf of Mexico, which, as defined here, also includes the Florida Keys west of Key Largo and northwestern Cuba. Distribution, depth records, and updated taxonomic information for the 40 nominal species reported from the GMx region are presented (see taxon summary and checklist). About 1510 nominal species representing over 130 genera in 8 families currently comprise the peracarid order Cumacea (Anderson 2006). The members of this order are relatively small, usually 1–10 mm in length. Most species occur in marine habitats from the intertidal to hadal depths of over 7000 m, but they are not uncommon in some brackish habitats. A few species, including those belonging to the genera Almyracuma Jones and Burbank, 1959, and Claudicuma Roccatagliata, 1981, are reported from freshwater or near freshwater conditions (see Jones and Burbank 1959, Roccatagliata 1981, Petrescu and Heard 2004). Cumaceans are normally benthic or epibenthic, but coastal species may migrate to the surface waters, especially at night (Hale 1953, Jones 1957, Stearns and Dardeau 1990, Macquart-Moulin 1991). The members of most cumacean families occur and feed in the first few centimeters of surface sediment; however, many species of the large and highly derived family Nannastacidae have evolved as cryptic, creeping forms associated with algae, sponges, corals, and other epibenthic organisms. In the warm waters of the Northwest Atlantic, this is exemplified by members of the shallow-water genus Cumella, sensu lato (R. W. Heard, pers. obs.). Also, some other nannastacid species belonging to Campylaspis G. O. Sars, 1865; Procampylaspis Bonnier, 1886, and related genera have piercing mouthparts, suggesting that they may be micropredators (Jones 1976). 1001 57 Cumacea (Crustacea) of the Gulf of Mexico Richard W. Heard and Daniel Roccatagliata  Cumacea. After Calman 1912. 1002 ~ Cumacea (Crustacea) 1978b, 1980, Fage 1951, Gerken 2001, Hale 1944a, 1944b, 1945a, 1945b, 1946, 1948, Haye, Kornfield, and Watling 2004, Jones 1963, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1984, Lomakina 1958, Sars 1900, Stebbing 1913, Watling 1979, 1991a, 1991b, Watling and McCann 1997, and Zimmer 1941, 1980. Important studies on the ecology, behavior, life history , and functional morphology of Cumacea include: Bishop 1982, Corey 1969, 1976, 1983, Dennel 1934, Dixon 1944, Duncan 1983, 1984, Forsman 1938, Foxon 1936, Gnewuch and Croker 1973, Granger, Brunel, and Messier 1979, Jarre 1989, Modlin 1992, Persson 1989, Pike and Le Sueur 1958, Stearns and Dardeau 1990, and Valentin and Anger 1977. Thereisaninteractivedatabaseincludingallthespecies of the order Cumacea described to date (http://peracarida .usm.edu/) and two websites are devoted to this group: http://www.coms.usm.edu/cumacean/ and http://nature .umesci.maine.edu/cumacea.html. Previous Publications Dealing with Cumacea from the GMx The first published records for the peracarid order Cumacea from the GMx were by Calman (1912), involving the description of a new leuconid, Eudorella monodon Calman, 1912, and a record for the diastylid Oxyurostylis smithi Calman, 1912. Since this initial work there have been many additional publications dealing, at least in part, with the descriptions, taxonomy, and records of cumaceans from the GMx region, as follows: Băcescu 1971, 1979, Băcescu and Muradian 1977a, 1977b, Corey 1984, Donath-Hernández 1988, Farrell 1979, Flint and Younk 1983, Heard 1982, Heard et al. 2006, Hopkins, Valentine, and Lutz 1989, Horlick and Subrahmanyam 1983, McBee and Brehm 1979, Micca and Roccatagliata 2002, Modlin 1992, Modlin and Dardeau 1987, Muradian-Ciamician 1980, Omholt and Heard 1979, 1982, Ortiz and Lalana 2002, Petrescu 2004, Petrescu and Heard 2001, 2004, 2005, Radha Devi and Kurian 1981, Rakocinski, Heard, Simons et al. 1991, Rakocinski, Heard, LeCroy et al. 1993, Rakocinski, Heard, LeCroy, McLelland et al. 1996, Roccatagliata 1985, 2004, Roccatagliata and Heard 1995, Saloman 1981, Saloman and Naughton 1978, Stearns...

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