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Description of the larval stages of the Red Sea-inhabiting Cymo melanodactylus de Haan, 1833, C. andreossyi (Audouin, 1826) and C. quadrilobatus Miers, 1884 (Decapoda: Brachyura: Xanthidae: Cymoinae) reared under laboratory conditions

  • Red Sea Biodiversity
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Abstract

Ovigerous females of Cymo melanodactylus, C. andreossyi and C. quadrilobatus were collected from a coral reef, Jeddah (Biadah, Obhur) and Thuwal, Saudi Arabia and reared in the laboratory. The morphological features of the zoea I of C. andreossyi, and zoeae I and II of C. quadrilobatus, as well as the complete larval stages of C. melanodactylus, have been described for the first time. Some characters distinguish these species: cephalothorax size; ratio of the length of antennal protopod and exopod; setations of the endopod of second maxilliped and the presence of a small tooth on the basal endite of the maxillule in the zoea I of C. melanodactylus and C. andreossyi. Morphological features of cephalothorax spines, setations of the endopod of antenna, first and second maxillipeds and the inner spines of telson change as the larval stages of C. melanodactylus progress. The morphological features of the zoeal and megalopal stages of the above-mentioned crabs were compared with those of the larvae of some conspecifics and other xanthid larvae described from the Red Sea. The megalopa of C. melanodactylus can easily be differentiated from those of Chlorodiella nigra and Leptodius exaratus by the setations of the exopod and endopod of antennule, antenna, maxillule and first to third maxillipeds.

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Acknowledgements

The scientific research cooperation between King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Faculty of Marine Sciences (FMS), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and the Senckenberg Research Institute (SRI), Frankfurt, Germany, in the framework of the Red Sea Biodiversity Project, during which the present material was collected, was funded by KAU grant no. I/1/432-DSR. The authors acknowledge, with thanks, KAU and SRI for technical and financial support. The authors thank Mr. Moritz Sonnewald from the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt am Main (Germany) and Mr. Naif K. BinHumam for making a number of suggestions that improved this manuscript. The authors also thank Mr. Jeben Ben Benjamin, Department of Zoology, Scott Christian College, Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, India formerly copy editor, Scientific Publishing Services(P) Ltd., Chennai, India) for editing this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80207, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia

    Ahmed E. Al Haj, Ali M. Al Aidaroos & A. A. J. Kumar

  2. Department of Marine Biology, Faculty of Environment Sciences and Marine Biology, Hadhramout University, Mukalla, Yemen

    Ahmed E. Al Haj

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  1. Ahmed E. Al Haj
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  2. Ali M. Al Aidaroos
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  3. A. A. J. Kumar
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Correspondence to Ahmed E. Al Haj.

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Communicated by M. M. El-Sherbiny

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Al Haj, A.E., Al Aidaroos, A.M. & Kumar, A.A.J. Description of the larval stages of the Red Sea-inhabiting Cymo melanodactylus de Haan, 1833, C. andreossyi (Audouin, 1826) and C. quadrilobatus Miers, 1884 (Decapoda: Brachyura: Xanthidae: Cymoinae) reared under laboratory conditions. Mar Biodiv 47, 1193–1207 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-017-0777-1

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