Relative growth and sexual maturity of the stone crab Menippe nodifrons Stimpson, 1859 (Brachyura, Xanthoidea) in southeastern Brazil

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Relative growth, sexual maturity, and breeding season of three species of the genus Persephona (Decapoda: Brachyura: Leucosiidae): a comparative study

“…Throughout the growth of brachyuran crabs, certain body structures, particularly the chelipeds in males and the abdomen in females, have been used by various researchers in studies on morphological maturity due to their functions in reproduction (see Hartnoll, 1978Hartnoll, , 1982Hartnoll, , 1985Pinheiro & Fransozo, 1993;Fernández-Vergaz et al, 2000;Corgos & Freire, 2006;Bertini et al, 2007;Hirose & Negreiros-Fransozo, 2007;Doi et al, 2008;Mclay & Van den Brink, 2009;Rasheed & Mustaquim, 2010;Sal Moyano et al, 2011). In these studies, significant changes in the allometric growth rates are usually correlated with morphological changes in such body structures between immature and mature phases, which might occur gradually over a series of moults or abruptly at a single moult (Hartnoll, 1978(Hartnoll, , 1982(Hartnoll, , 1985.…”

“…Despite several studies on relative growth and reproductive traits of brachyuran crabs (see Pinheiro & Fransozo, 1993;Flores & Negreiros-Fransozo, 1998;Mantelatto & Fransozo, 1999a, b;Fernández-Vergaz et al, 2000;Corgos & Freire, 2006;Hartnoll et al, 2006;Bertini et al, 2007;Hirose & Negreiros-Fransozo, 2007;Doi et al, 2008;Cobo & Alves, 2009;Mclay & Van den Brink, 2009;Bertini et al, 2010;Sal Moyano et al, 2011), little is known about the biology of leucosiid species, including P. lichtensteinii, P. mediterranea, and P. punctata throughout their range of distribution. Negreiros-Fransozo et al (1989) described the early larval development of P. mediterranea; Bertini et al (2001Bertini et al ( , 2010 reported on the spatial and temporal distribution of Persephona spp.…”

Reproductive aspects and adaptive relative growth of the tropical crab Goniopsis cruentata

“…This pattern of reduced level of relative growth after sexual maturity has been shown previously for the same species (Cobo & Fransozo, 1998). It seems to be the general pattem among brachyuran crabs (Pinheiro & Hattori, 2006;Bertini et al, 2007;Pralon & Negreiros-Fransozo, 2008;Castiglioni, Silva & Azevedo, 2011;Souza & Pinheiro, 2012), and also among arthropods and mammals in general (genitalia size: Eberhard et al, 2009).…”

“…pected to reach smaller sizes (Fox, 1994;Bertschy & Fox, 1999). In fact, there is some evidence that the sex which attains maturity at larger sizes also attain larger mean and/or maximal sizes (males - Bertini et al, 2007). The use of the relative growth of the primary and secondary sexual characters for determining the morphological maturity in G. cruentata was effective, since growth differed between juveniles and adults in both sexes.…”

Macroecology and evolution of a crab ‘super predator’,Menippe mercenaria(Menippidae), and its gastropod prey

“…Although the fragmentary nature of other fossil species of Menippe makes it difficult to estimate relative force production, body size may be used as a proxy for bite force. Modern M. nodifrons, for example, are smaller than M. mercenaria (Lindberg & Marshall, 1984) with carapace width measurements centring around 80 mm (Oliveira, Hattori & Pinheiro, 2005;Bertini et al, 2007) compared to observed carapace widths for M. mercenaria exceeding 130 mm (Caldwell, 1992;Gerhart & Bert, 2008). Because carapace width correlates positively with propodus length (at least in M. mercenaria [Blundon, 1988;Gerhart & Bert, 2008]), and propodus length correlates positively with potential force production (Schenk & Wainwright, 2001), this suggests that M. mercenaria is a much stronger crab than M. nodifrons.…”