Abstract
The morphology of the first zoeal stage of Domecia acanthophora (Desbonne, in Desbonne & Schramm, 1867) was described from laboratory-hatched material obtained from ovigerous females collected at Vitoria Island on the southeastern Brazilian coast. We compared the larval morphology (zoea I) of fourteen species of the superfamily Trapezioidea, which Domecia glabra Alcock, 1899 is the only congeneric representative of the species described in this study. The morphological characteristics of the first zoea that distinguish D. acanthophora from D. glabra are: three aesthetascs on the exopod antennule; three pairs of lateral spines on carapace; bilobed basial endite of maxilla, with four plumodenticulate setae on each lobe; and telson furcae distally spinulated. It also provides information that may enhance some phylogenetic hypotheses within Trapezioidea crabs.
Highlights
The most recent Brachyura classification (Ng et al, 2008; De Grave et al, 2009; Ahyong et al, 2011) recognizes the superfamily Trapezioidea Miers, 1886, which consists of three families: Domeciidae Ortmann, 1893, Tetraliidae Castro, Ng & Ahyong, 2004 and Trapeziidae Miers, 1886
According to Clark and Ng (2010), the characters that separate the early stages of zoeae of the species of superfamily Trapezioidea are: the spinulation of the antennal protopod, the terminal setation of the antennule, the setation of the maxillule, maxilla, first and second maxillipeds, and medial and dorsolateral processes of the abdominal somites
The antennal morphology of D. acanthophora follows that observed for the other genera of the superfamily Trapezioidea (Tab. 1)
Summary
The most recent Brachyura classification (Ng et al, 2008; De Grave et al, 2009; Ahyong et al, 2011) recognizes the superfamily Trapezioidea Miers, 1886, which consists of three families: Domeciidae Ortmann, 1893, Tetraliidae Castro, Ng & Ahyong, 2004 and Trapeziidae Miers, 1886. Several studies about the morphology of larval stages have been used to elucidate the taxonomic status of these crabs, of which there is still no consensus with respect to the superfamily Trapezioidea (e.g., Clark and Guerao, 2008; Clark and Ng, 2010). About 60 species of the superfamily Trapezioidea are known (see Ng et al, 2008), but the morphology of the first zoeal stage is described only for 14 species (see Tab. 1)
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