Limb ontogeny and trunk segmentation in Nebalia species (Crustacea, Malacostraca, Leptostraca)

The ’egg-larval’ development of two species of Nebalia has been examined with SEM. Various details concerning limb ontogeny and trunk segmentation are described. The most important of these are the following. The tripartite state of the peduncle of antenna 2 in the adult of Nebalia species is derived from the fusion of the third and fourth podomeres, present in late larvae. The proximal portion of the mandible in the adult of Nebalia brucei, carrying the ’coxal process’, is, based on the ontogenetic evidence, interpreted as the combined basis and coxa, and the bipartite palp is interpreted as the endopod. The early development of the thoracopods and the three anteriormost pleopods is identical. They all start as laterally directed, biramous limb buds. This suggests that tagmatisation of the trunk of the Leptostraca (and other Malacostraca) has been developed from an ancestor with an undivided trunk region with serially similar limbs. Certain early stages reveal an extra, ’eighth’, limbless pleon segment, as compared with the normal number of seven pleomeres of adult Leptostraca. The presence of a row of ventral, sternitic, triangular processes between the bases of the thoracopods, as they are found in certain stages of a species of Nebalia, is suggested as a possible ground pattern for the Malacostraca. Accepted: 1 February 2000