Abstract
We register the occurrence of Isocheles sawayai intersex individuals and analyse their external primary and secondary sexual characters. Specimens were collected monthly from July 2001 to June 2003 from the benthic sand habitat in the Caraguatatuba region of the northern littoral coast of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The sex of individuals was checked based on the position of gonopores and pleopod morphology was also analysed. A total of 374 hermit crabs (297 males, 67 females, and 10 intersexes) was captured and examined. All intersex individuals bore a gonopore on the basis of each coxae of the fifth pereopods as well as male pleopods, associated with gonopores (only one or a pair) on the coxae of the third pereopods. A greater degree of similarity among the analysed sexual characters was observed between males and intersex individuals than between intersexes and females. The results obtained suggest that, at least in this population, intersex individuals are functional males and that hermaphroditism does not play a significant role in the natural history of I. sawayai.
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