Abstract
AbstractZimmermann, G., Bosc, P., Valade, P., Cornette, R., Améziane, N. and Debat, V. 2011. Geometric morphometrics of carapace ofMacrobrachium australe(Crustacea: Palaemonidae) from Reunion Island. —Acta Zoologica(Stockholm)93: 492–500.We investigated the structure of carapace shape variation in six populations ofMacrobrachium australeGuérin‐Méneville 1838(Crustacea: Decapoda: Palaemonidae) from Reunion Island (Indian Ocean) freshwaters. The morphometric analysis revealed the occurrence of two morphotypes corresponding to two different types of habitats. Individuals living in lotic habitats present a thick carapace armed with a short, robust and straight rostrum, while individuals from lentic habitats have a slender carapace armed with a thin long rostrum orientated upward. This difference suggests an adaptation to lotic disturbances and is tentatively interpreted as adaptive phenotypic plasticity. In such amphidromous organisms regressing to freshwaters after a marine larval phase, selection for physiological and developmental flexibility might facilitate further adaptation and allows the colonisation of a wide panel of environmentally different and sometimes geographically distant insular streams.
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