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Monoporeia affinis



Scientific names: The genus Monoporeia belongs to the Pontoporeiidae family, which has Pontoporeia as its genus. To be able to explain the word Monoporeia we start with the genus: Pontoporeia was one of the so called Greek mythological nereids (the daughters of Nereus and Doris). pontos means sea, while poreia means to travel, journey or trip. Thereafter, the Pontoporeiidae family has recieved an additional genus that ends with poreia, a sort of unifying word for many genera within this family, e.g. Bathyporeia, Monoporeia and Amphiporeia. Within the genus Momoporeia it is unclear what the first element monos means; monosis is Greek and mean lonliness. Maybe the species Monoporeia affinis is alone in its genus? Another possible explanation is that in the western Atlantic, where this genus was first described, the females of Pontoporeia femorata are able to have two litters before they die, while the females of Monoporeia affinis only have one litter. The Latin affinis means related to or like.

Other scientific name: Pontoporeia affinis, Pontoporeia weltneri, Pontoporeia filicornis, Pontoporeia hoyi.


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Bo Johannesson | Martin Larsvik | Lars-Ove Loo | Helena Samuelsson