Some species live in freshwater hot springs, other ones are cave or phreatic waters dwellers, fewer are marine (coastal ground waters and macro-interstitia of coral rubble) or anchialine pools inhabitants.

Thermosbaenaceans of Italy contain four species belonging to three genera, viz. Limnosbaena, Tethysbaena and Monodella.

As other thermosbaenaceans, most probably they originated directly from marine shallow waters ancestors, according to the "Regression Model" by Stock (1977, 1980), their present distribution quite falling into the zone once covered by the coastlines of the Thetys sea.

Limnosbaena finki (Mestrov & Lattinger-Penko 1969)
(Halosbaenidae) (North Yugoslavia s.l. - Italy) (violet circle)

Tethysbaena argentarii (Stella 1951)
(Monodellidae) (Endemic to Italy) (green circle)

Tethysbaena siracusae Wagner 1994
(Monodellidae) (Endemic to Italy) (red circle)

Monodella stygicola Ruffo 1949
(Monodellidae) (only female known) (Endemic to Italy) (blue circle)

This species, only known for a restricted part of the Salentine Peninsula (south Apulia), has been recently collected in coastal phreatic waters near Bari (north Apulia) in association with the stygobitic mysid Spelaeomysis bottazzii and decapod Typhlocaris salentina (unpublished data).

A selected World bibliography on subterranean thermosbaenaceans can be found in: J.H.Stock(1984). Thermosbaenacea. Stygofauna Mundi: 585-588 and H.P. Wagner (1994). A monographic review of the Thermosbaenacea (Crustacea: Peracarida). Zool. Verhan, pp 338. See also: C.F.Boutin. 1996. Review of H.P.Wagner (1994). Crustaceana, 69 (6):801-804, and the Bibliography of the Italian Groundwater Fauna.