The zoeal development of the brachyuran crab, Palicus caronii, comprises two zoeal stages and the morphology is described and illustrated in detail. The zoeae were collected in plankton samples from the Southern Ligurian Sea (Western Mediterranean). Although the morphology of the larval stages of this species was unknown, a combination of characters allowed the zoeae to initially be assigned to the Palicidae, based on the previous unique known first zoeal description of one species of this family. Later, the identification of the larvae as Palicus caronii was confirmed through molecular analysis. The morphological features of the zoeae that characterize the Palicidae and separate them from the Crossotonotidae are confirmed. Also, the larval development comprising only two zoeal stages observed in Palicus caronii, the peculiar and uncommon carapace surface setation, and the presence of anterodorsal and posterodorsal sensory dorsal organs suggest that these characters could be common to the Palicoidea.
The eight zoeal stages of the Mediterranean shrimp Periclimenes aegylios are described and illustrated in detail, using laboratory-reared specimens. This study improved the partial and unpublished descriptions of the zoeae of this species. The complete and accurate definition of the morphology of all the stages now allows comparison of the zoeae of P. aegylios with those of other Mediterranean Periclimenes species, as well as the allopatric Atlantic P. sagittifer, from which P. aegylios was separated in 1996.
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