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External morphology of limb development in the amphipod Orchestia cavimana (Crustacea, Malacostraca, Peracarida)

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Abstract

The external morphology of limb development in Orchestia cavimana is examined by scanning electron microscopy and fluorescence staining from the appearance of the first limb buds until hatching. As other amphipods, O. cavimana undergoes direct development and the degree of segmental differentiation shows a more or less continual decrease in anteroposterior direction. Limbs form ventrally as small buds, which elongate and divide into podomeres early in development. This early subdivision largely corresponds with the limb segmentation of the hatchling. When the post-naupliar limbs start to develop, the germ band begins to split into two halves along the midline, so that the trunk limbs transiently occupy a very dorsolateral position. After the germ band has closed again, the differentiation into the characteristic amphipodan tagmata (cephalothorax, pereon, pleon) takes place and the limb podomeres lose their round-shape. The late embryo is covered by a so-called intermediate cuticle, which is formed after an embryonic moult and shed after hatching. The early development of O. cavimana reveals the Anlage of a vestigial seventh pleonic segment that is assumed to belong to the ground pattern of malacostracans, but is retained as a free, limbless segment only in adult Leptostraca. A transient subdivision of the proximal segment of the pleopods suggests the occurrence of a coxa and a basis in these limbs. The mandible attains its upright, adult position via a characteristic bending process that is strikingly similar to that in Archaeognatha (Insecta).

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Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to G. Drescher of the Institute of Systematic Zoology of the Natural History Museum, Berlin, for support using the SEM. Prof. Gerhard Scholtz spent valuable time going through the manuscript, which is gratefully acknowledged. We thank S. Richter for helpful discussions. Many thanks also to P. T. Graham for improving the English.

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  1. Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Vergleichende Zoologie, Institut für Biologie, Philippstr. 13, 10115, Berlin, Germany

    Petra Ungerer & Carsten Wolff

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  1. Petra Ungerer
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  2. Carsten Wolff
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Correspondence to Carsten Wolff.

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Ungerer, P., Wolff, C. External morphology of limb development in the amphipod Orchestia cavimana (Crustacea, Malacostraca, Peracarida). Zoomorphology 124, 89–99 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-005-0114-2

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