MARSUPIAL CONTENTS AND LOSSES DUE TO PUTATIVE INTRAMARSUPIAL CANNIBALISM BY THE MANCAS IN THREE ONISCID ISOPOD SPECIES

Abstract

ABSTRACT The marsupial contents of three isopod species were examined once weekly during the marsupial period of each of them. The species were: Porcellio ficulneus Budde-Lund (Porcellionidae), Armadillo officinalis Dumeril (Armadilliidae), and Schizidium tiberianum Verhoeff (Armadillidiidae). Whereas in the first two species the eggs arc connected to cotyledons, in the last species they are contained inside sacs within the marsupium. The three species varied in the duration of egg incubation, the time of manca appearance, as well as in the extent of cannibalism among the mancas. The latter may account for part of the marsupial egg loss.