Amsterdam Expeditions to the West Indian Islands, Report 17. Les Cyathura stygobies (Isopoda, Anthuridea) et surtout celles des Grandes et des Petites Antilles

After a review of the morphology of the stygobiont species of Cyathura, five new species are described (one from Cuba, two from Haiti, one from Jamaica, and one from Aruba), and additional details are provided for some other species. Considerations are made on the peculiarities of the geographic distribution of the 11 stygobiont species known at present (forming a circum-Caribbean group and an Indo-Pacific one). A study of the relationships between the various species, and comparison with the non-stygobiont (marine or brackishwater) species of the genus, allows the definition of a subgenus Cyathura s. str. (for all non-stygobiont forms and two marine-interstitial ones) and of a new subgenus, Stygocyathura (containing most of the stygobiont species). In the part devoted to ecological aspects, a 11 stygobiont representatives of the Isopoda Anthuridea are taken into account; amongst them the genus Cyathura has been the most successful in colonizing the underground water Realm, the various habitats of which were electively occupied by different species