Misael Domingues Rodrigues 2Nilton José Hebling 3Six zoeal stages and the megalopa of the comestible crab Ucides cordatus cordatus (Linnaeus, 1763) are described and illustrated. The larvae were reared in the laboratory at temperature 25 ± lOC and water salinity of 24 0 /00; duration of stages and survival rates were measured. Comparisons with the descriptions of the zoeal morphologic characters of Ocypodidae and Gecarcinidae perrnited to include definitively U. c. cordatus in the family Ocypodidae, subfarni1y Ocypodinae. INTRODUCTIONThe comestible crab, Ucides cordatus cordatus, is very commom in the mangrove forests of the Western Atlan tic coast, occurring, according to COELHO & RAMOS (1972), from Florida, Antiles, northern South America, Guiana to Brazil (to the State of Santa Catarina).8ased upon the morphology of the adults, the genus Ucides Rathbun, 1897 has characteristics of both families Gecarcinidae and Ocypodidae. H. MILNE EDWARDS (1837), LEBOUR (1928), RATHBUN (1918RATHBUN ( , 1933, HOLTHUIS (1959), BRIGHT (1966) and PRAHL & MANJARRÉS (1984) considered it in the family Gecarcinidae while CHACE & HOBBS (1969) , TURKA Y (1970, WARNER (1977) and MELO (1985) in the farnily Ocypodidae.ln this paper aredescribed and illustrated alI the larval forms of U. c cordatus.The larval characters are compared with those of the other species of Gecárcinidae and Ocypodidae in order to help solve the controversal systematic position of this genus. MATERIAL AND METHODSOvigerous Jemales of U. c. cordatus were collected on January 18, 1981Research supported by CAPES -PICO. Revta bras. Zoo!.in the mangroves in the canal of Bertioga (23°51 'S, 46°09W), northern litoral of São Paulo, Brazil. After eclosion 60 zoeae were isolated in Petri dishes of 20 mi, with sea water having a salinity of 24 0 /00 and maintained in a climatic room at 25 ± 1 ° C with a photoperiod of 12 hours light and dark. During ali their development, the larvae were fed with freshly hatched nauplii of Artemia salina, after daily changes of water.Dead larvae were fixed and preserved in a mixture of ethol a1cohol 70% and glycerine in a proportion of 1: 1. The exuviae were preserved in glycerine.Measurements and designs were made using a Zeiss microscope with drawing tube. When possible 10 larvae of each stage were analyzed.The following symbols were adopted for the diferent larval stages : I, first zoeal stage; II, second zoeal stage; III, third zoeal stage; IV, fourth zoeal stage; V, fifth zoeal stage that produces zoea VI; V I, fifth zoeal stage that produces directly the megalopa; VI, sixth zoeal stage; MI , megalopa produced by zoea V I ; M2 , megalopa produced by zoea VI.The figures and morphological descriptions of the fifth zoeal stage and of the megalopa were based, respectively, upon stages V and M 2 , because they were most common in the larval development. For stages V I and MI only the alterna te morphologies were mentioned in relation to V and M2 •

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MA TERIAL E MÉTODOSDesenvolveu-se, durante vários anos, o culti vo de espécies dos gêneros Hexapanopeus Rathbun, 1898 e Panopeus H. Milne Edwards, 1834, visando o conhecimento das formas larvais e juvenis. Foram trabalhadas três espécies e em todas elas foi alcançado o estágio adulto.A descrição desta nova espécie está baseada em adultos obtidos do cultivo em laboratório. Esta é uma situação inédita, pois as descrições de Decapoda Brachyura são baseadas em adultos obtidos na natureza. O primeiro e único exemplar, fêmea ovígera, desta espécie foi coletado na natureza, em Ubatuba, Estado de São Paulo. A partir das larvas que nasceram desta fêmea organizou-se uma linhagem que permitiu o estudo do desenvolvimento, até o estado adulto, de muitos machos e fêmeas. A fêmea ovígera mediu 8,0 mm de largura e 5,7 mm de comprimento, um pouco maior do que o holótipo (Figs 1,2), porém menor do que o parátipo fêmea (Figs 3, 4).