Morphology of the first zoeal stages of eleven Sesarmidae (Crustacea,Brachyura, Thoracotremata) from the Indo-West Pacific,with a summary of familial larval characters |
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Authors: | JOSÉ A CUESTA GUILLERMO GUERAO HUNG-CHANG LIU CHRISTOPH D SCHUBART |
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Institution: | 1. Instituto de Ciencias Marinas de Andalucía, CSIC , Avenida República Saharaui, 2, Puerto Real, 11510, Cádiz, Spain Phone: +34 (956) 83612 Fax: +34 (956) 83612 E-mail: jose.cuesta@icman.csic.es;2. Departament de Biologia Animal (Artròpodes), Facultat de Biologia (U.B.) , Av. Diagonal, 645, Barcelona, 08028, Spain;3. Research Center for Biodiversity , Academia Sinica , Nankang, Taipei, 115, Taiwan;4. Biologie I, Universit?t Regensburg , Regensburg, D-93040, Germany |
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Abstract: | Summary The first zoeal stages of eleven species of Sesarmidae from the Indo-West Pacific were obtained from ovigerous females. Those of Labuanium scandens, L. rotundatum, L. trapezoideum, L. politum, Metasesarma aubryi, Pseudosesarma crassimanum, Stelgistra stormi, and Sesarmops impressum, are described for the first time, while the first zoeal stages of Clistocoeloma merguiense, Metasesarma obesum and Sesarmops intermedium are re-described. Larval characters of all these species are compared with previously described ones for the family and morphological features are re-evaluated. Minute spines on the telson of the zoeae are described as a new larval character in Sesarmidae and their presence or absence in other grapsoid groups is discussed. The results demonstrate that a recurrent combination of reliable larval characters distinguishes zoeae and megalopae of the examined sesarmids from the rest of the Grapsoidea. This appears to be consistent with recent studies that redefine the Sesarmidae. |
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Keywords: | Sesarmidae Thoracotremata larval morphology zoea megalopa taxonomy Indo-West Pacific |
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