Larval development of Clastotoechus nodosus (Streets, 1872) (Crustacea: Decapoda: Porcellanidae), under laboratory conditions

Abstract

The larval development of Clastotoechus nodosus is described and illustrated from specimens obtained from four females collected in shallow waters from Cubagua island, Venezuela (southeastern Caribbean) and reared in the laboratory. C. nodosus hatches as a prezoea of less than 60 minutes´ duration and then molts through two subsequent zoeal stages of 5-7 and 9-13 days´ duration respectively, at 25ºC and 37‰ salinity, before attaining the megalopa. There are major differences between the two zoeal stages and megalopa of C. nodosus and the only other congeneric species with known larval development [i.e. C. vanderhorsti (Schmitt, 1924); sin. Madarateuchus vanderhorsti]. Interspecific differences are striking in the setal formula of several appendages (e.g. antennulae, antennae, maxillulae, maxillae, and maxillipeds). The postorbital spines exhibited by the second zoeal stage of C. nodosus are a novelty for larvae of any porcellanid species described so far from the Americas.