Niambia capensis

Invasion History

First Non-native North American Tidal Record: 1935
First Non-native West Coast Tidal Record: 1935
First Non-native East/Gulf Coast Tidal Record:

---

General Invasion History:

None

North American Invasion History:

---

Description

Niambia capensis is a terrestrial isopod often found in littoral marine habitats near the edge of the high-tide line. It has a roughly ellipsoidal-rectangular body about 2.5 X as long as wide. It haswith a small oval head, which is wider than long. It has seven cephalothorax segments and a triangular abdomen of six segments. The last thoracic segment has its posterior angles drawn rearward. The eyes are on the sides of the head and the 2nd antennae are long, about one-quarter body length, with a 3-segmented flagellum. The pleotelson is triangular, slightly produced at the tipThe pleotelson tip reaches the base of the uropod peduncle tip. Uropods are short, compared to philoscioid isopods (eg. Littorophiloscia richardsonae, native to the West Coast, or Halophiloscia couchii, introduced on the East Coast, and Chile (Miller et al. 1936; Schultz et al. 1982; Brusca et al. 2007; Perez-Schultheiss et al. 2019). The color is variable, including white, brown, and red (Schultz et al. 1982). This isopod is one of many cultures and sold on the Web as reptile food. Because of the variable colors, it is sold as the 'Party Mix Isopod'.

A wide variety of introduced and native terrestrial isopods (sowbugs, woodlice, pillbugs) are found under stones, logs, and debris in moist habitats near water. Careful examination is needed to distinguish it from introduced (e.g., Porcellio laevis, P. scaber, P. dilatatus, Armadilloniscus vulgare) and native terrestrial isopods (Garthwaite et al 1992; Brusca et al. 2007). It does resemble members of the family Porcellionidae in lacking the ability of conglobation- it can't curl into a ball, as with true pill-bugs (Perez-Schultheiss et al. 2019).

---

Taxonomy

Ecology

General:

Niambia capensis is a terrestrial isopod often found in littoral marine habitats near the edge of the high-tide line. Sexes are separate, and development it direct, with brooded larvae (Miller 1936; Schultz et al. 1982). In its native South Africa, it was regarded as largely terrestrial, occurring up to 300 m altitude, but also occurring on sandy beaches (Barnard 1932). On South African sandy beaches, N. capensis was found on drying sand in the upper intertidal, but not in areas of resurgent waves. It coexisted with intrertidal amphipods (Talorchestia and isopods (Exocirrolana spp., Tylos spp. (Bally 1982). Introduced populations in California were found in rocks above the high-tide line, and in back-beach habitats, and occasionally in inland riparian areas (Miller 1936; Schultz et al. 1982; Garthwaite et al. 1992). Niambia capensis, like other upper-intertidal peracarids, feeds on salt-marsh leaf-litter and contributes to its degradation (Sprung and Machado 2000).

Food:

Detritus

Trophic Status:

Deposit Feeder

DepFed

---

Habitats

General Habitat	Terrestrial	None
General Habitat	Coarse Woody Debris	None
General Habitat	Unstructured Bottom	None
General Habitat	Salt-brackish marsh	None
General Habitat	Nontidal Freshwater	None
Tidal Range	High Intertidal	None
Tidal Range	Supratidal	None
Vertical Habitat	Epibenthic	None

---

---

Tolerances and Life History Parameters

Maximum Length (mm)	8	Barnard 1932
Broad Temperature Range	None	Warm-Temperate
Broad Salinity Range	None	Limnetic to Euhaline

General Impacts

---

References

Turner, Andrew D.; Fenwick, David; Powell, Andy; Dhanji-Rapkova, Monika; Ford, Charlotte; Hatfield, Robert G.; Santos, Andres; Martinez-Urtaza, Jaime; Bean. Tim P.; Baker-Austin, Craig : Stebbing, Paul (2018) New Invasive Nemertean Species (Cephalothrix simula) in England with High Levels of Tetrodotoxin and a Microbiome Linked to Toxin Metabolism, Marine Drugs 16(452): Published omline
doi:10.3390/md16110452

Bañón, Rafael; Fariña, Juan; de Carlos, Alejandro (2023) New Data on Exotic Muricid Species (Neogastropoda: Muricidae) from Spain Based on Integrative Taxonomy, Diversity 15(1185): Published online
https://doi.org/10.3390/ d15121185

Brusca, Richard C.; Coeljo, Vania R. Taiti, Stefano (2007) The Light and Smith Manual: Intertidal invertebrates from Central California to Oregon (4th edition), University of Calfiornia Press, Berkeley CA. Pp. 503-542

Ferreira, Letícia; Seixas, M. Victor C.; Villalobos‑Guerrero, Tulio F.; Santos, Cinthya S. G. S (2024) Another candidate to human‑mediated transport: molecular evidence confirms that Alitta succinea (Nereididae: Annelida) is a widespread species, Marine Biodiversity 54(12): Published online
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-024-01407-x

Marchessaux, Guillaume; Chevalier, Cristele; Mangano, Maria Cristina; Sara, Gianluca (2023) Larval connectivity of the invasive blue crabs Callinectes sapidus and Portunus segnis in the Mediterranean Sea: A step toward improved cross border management, Marine Pollution Bulletin 194(115272): Published online
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115272

Marquez, Federico M.; Zabala, Soledad; Bokenhans, Verena; Cumplido, Mariano; Espinosa, Free; Bigatti, Gregorio; Averbuj, Andres (2024) Predation of the invasive green crab Carcinus maenas on the edible snail Buccinastrum deforme, targeted as the most important nearshore marine gastropod fishery from Patagonia, Argentina, Regional Studies in Marine Science 69(103299): Published online
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsma.2023.103299

Metz, Sebastian; Itoïz, Sarah; Obio, Aleix; Derelle, Evelyne; Massana, Ramon; Berney, Cédric; de Vargas, Colomban; Soudant, Philippe; Monier, Adam; Chambouvet, Aurélie (2023) Global perspective of environmental distribution and diversity of Perkinsea (Alveolata) explored by a meta‑analysis of eDNA surveys, Scientific Reports 13(2011): Published online
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-47378-0

U.S. National Museum of Natural History 2002-2021 Invertebrate Zoology Collections Database. http://collections.nmnh.si.edu/search/iz/

---