Cuma trispinosa, Goodsir, 1843: 126, Pl. III, figs. 1–7.
Halia trispinosa Bate 1856: 458 pl. 14, 15, fig 5.
Venilia gracilis Bate 1856: 460 pl. 15, fig 7.
Cyrianassa gracilis Bate 1856: 187.
Iphinoe gracilis Norman 1868: 272.
Remarks. Iphinoe trispinosa is usually confused with other Mediterranean species because it shares several characteristics with them that are not easy to recognize. In adult males, antenna 2 reaches the end of the pleon.
Distribution and Ecology. Iphinoe trispinosa was recorded by Graeffe (1902) and Fage (1940) in the northwest Mediterranean Sea; however, after the revision of the genus Iphinoe by Ledoyer (1965), it has never been recorded again, except for the record by Ayari & Afli (2003) from the Gulf of Tunis. We agree with Corbera & Garcia-Rubies (1998) and consider all the Mediterranean records of I. trispinosa as misidentifications of I. douniae.
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According to Marusso (2006), Iphinoe trispinosa occurs in areas 1, 2, 3 and 9 of the Bianchi (2004) classification ( Table 3). However, we failed to record the species in our samples. In light of the above, we believe that this species is present neither in Italian waters, nor anywhere else in the Mediterranean Sea. It is difficult to delineate the habitat type of I. trispinosa because it has often been misidentified with other species ( Corbera & Garcia-Rubies 1998).
In the native range (Northeast Atlantic), I. trispinosa is usually found on fine sand in the infralittoral zone ( Cornet et al. 1983; Reis et al. 1982). It is also frequent in infralittoral gravelly sand and coarse sediment ( Connor et al. 2004).