Zoeal morphology of Pachygrapsus transversus (Gibbes) (Decapoda, Grapsidae) reared in the laboratory

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Ovigerous females 01' Pachygraps/ls IransverslIs (Gibbes, 1850) were collected on the Praia Dura and Saco da Ribeira beaches, Ubatuba, São Paulo, Brazi!. Larvae were individually reared in a climatic ro0111 at 25°C temperature, salinities 01' 28, 32 and 35%. and under natural photoperiod conditions. The best rearing results were observed at 35%. salinity. Seven zoeal instars were observed, drawing and described in detai!. The data are compared with those obtained for P. gracilis (Saussure, 1858). KEY WORDS. Grapsidae, PachygrapslIs Iransversus, larval development, decapodThe genus PachygrapslIs Randall, 1840 is represented by three species along the Brazil ian littoral: P. corrugallls (von Martens, 1872), P. transverSllS (G ibbes, 1850) and P. gracilis (Saussure, 1858), the latter having been recorded for the first time in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, by RODRIGUES & BROSSI-GARCIA (1989) in rocky and sandy-muddy substrates together with P. Iransversus. This species and P. gracilis are quite similar and the traits most often utilized for specific identification have been indicated by RODRIGUES & BROSS1-GARCIA (1989).The larval ontogeny of the family Grapsidae is little known. According to CHACE (195 1), less than 15% ofthe species have been studied from this viewpoint.The main objective of the present investigation was to study the larval development of P. transversus reared in the laboratory and to characterize the plankton phase oflife ofthis species. A detai led anatomical study of each instar was performed by veritying ali the morphologic variations occurring during metamorphosis. The time intervals between successive ccdysis were also determined, and a comparative analysis between P. transversus and P. gracilis, whose larval morphology was described by BROSSI-GARCIA & RODRIGUES (1993), was finally performedo Other non-Brazilian species ofthe genus Pachygrapsus whose larval instars are known are: P. marmoralus (Fabricius, 1878), P. crassipes Randall, 1840 and P. maurus (Lucas, 1846) studied by CANO (1891), SCHLOTTERBECK (1976) and CUESTA & RODRIGUES (1994), respectively .

Spatio-temporal variation of the population structure and density of the shore crab Pachygrapsus gracilis (Grapsidae) in an estuary on the Brazilian Amazon coast

“…The larval development has been described in several species from six of the seven (WoRMS, 2020) grapsid genera: Geograpsus Stimpson, 1858, Grapsus Lamarck, 1801 (Guerão et al, 2001), Goniopsis De Haan, 1833 (Fransozo et al, 1998), Metopograpsus H. Milne Edwards, 1853 (Kakati, 1982), Pachygrapsus Randall, 1840 (Ingle, 1987), and Planes Bowdich, 1825 (Konishi and Minagawa, 1990). Grapsids have a prolonged larval development cycle, with a large number of larval stages, as observed in Pachygrapsus marmoratus (Fabricius, 1787) (Cuesta and Rodríguez, 2000), which has six larval stages, Pachygrapsus transversus (Gibbes, 1850) (Brossi-Garcia and Rodrigues, 1997), with seven larval stages, and Geograpsus lividus (H. Milne Edwards, 1837) (Cuesta et al, 2011), which has eight larval stages. Brossi-Garcia and Rodrigues (1993) observed approximately 13 zoeal stages in Pachygrapsus gracilis (de Saussure, 1857) reared under laboratory conditions.…”

A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of Grapsoidea crabs (Decapoda: Brachyura) based on mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) genes

“…Traditionally, Grapsidae is divided into four subfamilies: Grapsinae, Varuninae, Sesarminae, and Plagusiinae (Niem, 1993;Brossi-Garcia and Rodrigues, 1997;Cuesta and Schubart, 1999;Karasawa and Kato, 2001). However, there is controversy regarding the relationships among the subfamilies based on larval morphology (Pereyra, 1993;Schubart and Cuesta, 1998).…”