Structure and development of setae on the thoracic limbs of the anostracan crustacean, Thamnocephalus platyurus

Abstract

Setae are a prominent feature of arthropod limbs. In taxa where the limbs develop during the larval phase, developing setae are an integral part of the developing limb bud and their differentiation cannot easily be separated from the early patterning and formation of the overall limb. Here I describe the morphogenesis and adult setae in a branchiopod crustacean, the anostracan, Thamnocephalus platyurus. The majority of the setae on the limbs are non-innervated plumose setae that are formed from six underlying cells. Because branchiopods are often sampled in comparative studies of limb development, the details of the cellular morphogenesis of their limbs provide a necessary basis for studies of limb patterning.