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Vol. 61, 2022
(update: 2022.11.16)
Special issue: Systematics and Biogeography of Fiddler Crabs (articles 64–71). Editors: Hsi-Te Shih and Benny K. K. Chan
Larval Development of the
Mangrove Fiddler Crab Austruca
albimana (Kossmann, 1877) (Crustacea: Brachyura: Ocypodidae)
Under Laboratory Conditions
Austin A.J. Kumar1,* and Ali M. Al-Aidaroos1,*
doi:10.6620/ZS.2022.61-70
1Department
of Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Science, King Abdulaziz
University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia. *Correspondence: E-mail:
aaustin@kau.edu.sa or anandjey@hotmail.com (Kumar);
aaidaroos@kau.edu.sa (Al-Aidaroos)
Received 31 December 2021 / Accepted
16 July 2022
Communicated by Hsi-Te Shih
Larvae of the mangrove fiddler crab Austruca albimana
(Kossmann, 1877), hatched from an ovigerous female collected from the
mangroves of Sumariat, Jazan Province, Saudi Arabia in the southern Red
Sea, were reared in the laboratory. Four zoeal and a megalopal stages
were recorded, and their morphological features are described herein
for the first time. The setations of the cephalothoracic appendages of
the
zoeas of A. albimana and their
congeners exhibit several variations that help differentiate larvae of
this genus easily from other meroplankton. However, a character of
phylogenetic significance – minute spines on the forks of the telson of
pleon – is common to larvae of this genus. These minute spines were
studied with the aid of scanning electron microscope images. There were
five common morphological features between A. albimana and other fiddler crab megalope, including Minuca burgersi, Leptuca uruguayensis and Leptuca thayeri.
These features were a deflexed front, rounded to obtuse frontal margin,
seven-segmented antennal flagellum, unsegmented endopod of maxilla and
three cincinnuli on the endopods of pleopods. Two zoeal morphological
features described in this study and other studies (i.e., the absence of lateral spines on carapace [vs. their presence in species of Uca, Afruca and Ocypode
in the Ocypodinae] and the presence of a maximum of four pairs of inner
setae on the telson of pleon [vs. presence of more than four pairs of
setae in species of Uca, Afruca and Ocypode]) support the taxonomic amendment of transferring Uca spp. and Afruca spp. crabs from Gelasiminae to Ocypodinae.
Key words: Fiddler crabs,
Gelasiminae, megalopa, Ocypodinae, Red Sea, Zoea.
Citation: Kumar AAJ, Al-Aidaroos AM. 2022.
Larval development of the mangrove fiddler crab Austruca albimana (Kossmann, 1877)
(Crustacea: Brachyura: Ocypodidae) under laboratory conditions. Zool
Stud 61:70. doi:10.6620/ZS.2022.61-70.
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