LARVAL DEVELOPMENT OF PANOPEUS BERMUDENSIS BENEDICT AND RATHBUN, 1891 (BRACHYURA, XANTHIDAE) WITH NOTES ON ZOEAL CHARACTERS IN XANTHID CRABS

Abstract

ABSTRACT Four zoeal stages and one megalopal stage are described and illustrated for the xanthid crab Panopeus bermudensis. The zoeae are immediately distinguished from all other known xanthid zoeae by a combination of characters: the absence of lateral carapace spines, an unusually placed spine on the telsonal furca, and the absence of an antennal exopod. The derivation of these allegedly apomorphic characters from more plesiomorphic xanthid zoeal stock is discussed, and possible phylogenies for the Xanthidae are examined in the context of available larval characters.