Larval development of Galathea amboinensis (Decapoda: Anomura: Galatheidae) under laboratory conditions.

Abstract

The larval development of Galathea amboinensis De Man, 1888, a galatheid symbiotic with comatulid crinoids, is described and illustrated from laboratory-reared material. This species had four zoeal stages and one megalopal stage. The larval morphology of G. amboinensis is compared with that of other congeneric species for which the complete larval development is known: G. inflata Potts, 1915, G. rostrata A. Milne Edwards, 1880 and G. intermedia Lilljeborg, 1851. The zoeas of G. amboinensis are much like those of G. inflata, but distinctive in the absence of small spines on the posterodorsal margin of the second to fifth abdominal segments. The megalop of G. amboinensis also resembles that of G. inflata, but differs in segmentation of the antennal flagellum and setation of the mandibular palp, and in having circular or subcircular red spots on the carapace and abdomen.