Phylum Arthropoda
Subphylum Crustacea
Class Malacostraca
Order Amphipoda
Family Amphilochidae

Gitanopsis petulans Karaman, 1980


Taxonomic Characterization: The body is smooth and laterally compressed with free urosomites. The head has angular lateral cephalic lobes that are ovoid. The labrum is long and asymmetrically incised. The mandible is well developed and recurved distally with a strong toothed incisor. The 1st and 2nd uropods are long and slender with the 2nd uropod being much shorter than the 1st; the third uropod is missing. G. petulans is differentiated by its 3rd epimeral plate which has a subangular distoposterior corner, by the lack of accessory flagellum and by the telson which is broadly subrounded distally (Karaman, 1980).

Disposition of Specimens: The type specimen is preserved in Karaman's collection in Titograd.

Ecological Classification: Possibly stygophilic or accidental.

Size: Total body length to 3.8 mm.

Number of Species in Genus: At least 17 of which G. petulans is the only species reported from caves.

Species Range: Type specimen from Walsingham Cave, Bermuda (Karaman, 1980).  Additional specimens collected from algae on mangroves and other low energy environments in Bermuda (Baldinger et al., 2002).

Closest Related Species: G. petulans is closely related to G. tortugae from the Tortugas in Florida and to G. laguna from the Gulf of Mexico.

Habitat: Low energy environments such mangroves, marine sink holes and caves (Baldinger et al., 2002).

Life History: A single specimen from Walsingham cave was a male.  Many additional specimens, including females on which most species' descriptions of Gitanopsis are based, were reported by Baldinger et al. (2002) from low energy environments in Bermuda.

Conservation Status: Known from Walsingham Cave and other low energy environments in Bermuda.

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