Species and Generic Gamma-Scale Diversity in Shallow-Water Marine Amphipoda with Particular Reference to the Mediterranean

Major hotspots of amphipod species richness and of species and generic endemicity can be recognized in shallow seas. Recognition of ‘hotspots’ for amphipods must take account of the species-area relationship but not of latitude. The richness and endemicity of amphipods in the Mediterranean Sea is shown to be high when compared with other shallow seas This indicates a long in situ evolutionary history and is therefore not compatible with the hypothesis that the Mediterranean fauna was extirpated in the late Miocene.