Morphological description of the first zoea of the freshwater shrimp Macrobrachium crenulatum (Decapoda: Palaemonidae) and a comparison to its congeners in the Neotropics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22201/ib.20078706e.2026.97.5675Keywords:
Atlantic drainage, Caridea, Costa Rica, Larval morphologyAbstract
We present the first description of Zoea I of Macrobrachium crenulatum and compare it with available data of other zoeae of Macrobrachium spp. of the Neotropics to identify morphological characteristics to differentiate the first zoea of M. crenulatum from zoeae of other species of the genus. A female with embryos was collected in the Atlantic drainage of Costa Rica, Central America. After hatching in the laboratory, larvae were preserved in glycerinate alcohol and later semi-permanent slides were prepared for morphological study and larval description. A table was prepared to compare the morphology of the first zoea of M. crenulatum to the first zoeae of other species of Macrobrachium. Among species of Macrobrachium phylogenetic and geographically closely related, the first zoea of M. crenulatum can be differentiated by the comparison of some structures as antenna (number of articles on scaphocerite), maxillipeds (number of plumose setae; setation pattern), maxilla (setation pattern), maxillule (number of spines), and telson (outer pair of setae). The larval morphology of M. crenulatum corroborated the phylogenetic position and may serve as a taxonomic tool for the distinction between the first zoea of closely related species.
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