Host Relation, Size and Reproduction in the Burrowing Barnacle Trypetesa lampas (Hancock) (Crustacea Cirripedia Acrothoracica).

Abstract

Sofie K. D. Nielsen, Jens T. Høeg, and Yoichi Yusa (2016) The aim of this study is to investigate the population biology of the burrowing barnacle Trypetesa lampas, a symbiont of hermit crabs and representing the little known cirripede group Acrothoracica. We put special emphasis on the host-barnacle relation and reproduction. A total of 341 hermit crabs from the west coast of Sweden was captured in November 2009 and August 2010, and examined for the associated burrowing barnacles. We found a mean load of 1.4 T. lampas per host and an average prevalence of 31.4% with no seasonal variation. Male hermit crabs also carried T. lampas, indicating that T. lampas does not rely on egg-predation to any substantial degree. The T. lampas load was positively related to host size, but otherwise their frequency distribution did not differ from random. The position of the burrow in the columella of the shell was positively associated with T. lampas size. Reproduction seems to occur throughout the year. We found ovigerous females also in winter, although less frequently than in summer, and no difference in the number of dwarf males between the summer and winter samples. The data from the present study site deviates in many respects (prevalence, female and male load, reproductive cycle, host relation) from previous studies on this and closely related acrothoracican species. This emphasizes that a basic lack of knowledge still exists concerning most aspects of acrothoracican reproduction, life cycles and host relation.