Cátia Bartilotti

The larval development of the partner shrimp Periclimenes sagittifer (Norman, 1861) (Decapoda: Caridea: Palaemonidae: Pontoniinae) described from laboratory-reared material, with a note on chemical settlement cues

The complete larval development (eight zoeae and megalopa) of Periclimenes sagittifer (Norman, 1861) (Decapoda: Palaemonidae: Pontoniinae) from laboratory-reared material is described and illustrated. The morphology of the first larval stage is compared with previous larval descriptions of other species in the genus (P. agag, P. americanus, P. calmani, P. diversipes, P. grandis and P. pandionis). The importance of chemical settlement cues for late stage Periclimenes larvae is discussed.

Complete larval development of the hermit crabs Clibanarius aequabilis and Clibanarius erythropus (Decapoda: Anomura: Diogenidae), under laboratory conditions, with a revision of the larval features of genus Clibanarius

The complete larval development (four zoeae and one megalopa) of Clibanarius aequabilis and C. erythropus, reared under laboratory conditions, is described and illustrated. The larval stages of the two northeastern Atlantic Clibanarius species cannot be easily differentiated. Their morphological characters are compared with those of other known Clibanarius larvae. The genus Clibanarius is very homogeneous with respect to larval characters. All Clibanarius zoeae display a broad and blunt rostrum, smooth abdominal segments and an antennal scale without a terminal spine. Beyond the second zoeal stage, the fourth telson process is present as a fused spine, and the uropods are biramous. In the fourth larval stage all species display a mandibular palp. The Clibanarius megalopa presents weakly developed or no ocular scales, symmetrical chelipeds, apically curved corneous dactylus in the second and third pereiopods, and 5–11 setae on the posterior margin of the telson. Apart from the number of zoeal stages, Clibanarius species may be separated, beyond the second zoeal stage, by the telson formula and the morphology of the fourth telson process.

Shedding light on the larval genus Eretmocaris: morphological larval features of two closely related trans-isthmian Lysmata species (Decapoda: Caridea: Hippolytidae) described on the basis of laboratory cultured material

Complete larval series are known for only three of the 39 valid species worldwide in the genus Lysmata. The present work deals with the larval development of two closely related trans-isthmian species of Lysmata, L. galapagensis (eastern Pacific Ocean), and L. moorei (southwestern Atlantic Ocean), using laboratory cultured material. The morphological features of the first four zoeal stages of both species, the fifth to seventh stages of L. galapagensis, and the last stage of L. moorei are described and compared with the larval descriptions currently available for the genus. Larvae of both species hatch with a similar form to L. seticaudata, with their first and fifth pereiopods as buds, and show a very steady development of their morphological characters. The zoeal characters match the phylogenetic results currently available for the genus Lysmata and L. galapagensis, L. moorei and L. seticaudata belong to the same monophyletic clade. We hypothesize that the larvae of all species within this clade will hatch with the first and fifth pereiopods as buds and will present a maximum of nine zoeal stages. The relationships between the studied material and the composite larval genus Eretmocaris are discussed, with emphasis on Eretmocaris corniger which has an extremely long rostrum and a spine on the dorsal surface of the third pleomere, characters also recorded in L. galapagensis. The larval forms earlier described as the tropical eastern Pacific E. corniger are matched to a known Lysmata species, L. galapagensis. The identity of E. corniger larvae recorded one century ago from the tropical eastern Atlantic is also discussed.

Complete larval development of Thor amboinensis (De Man, 1888) Decapoda: Thoridae) described from laboratory-reared material and identified by DNA barcoding

Of the 12 species of Thor described until present date, only three (25%) have their complete larval development known. Present work describes the complete larval development of Thor amboinensis, based on laboratory-reared material. The spent females were identified through the analysis of the partial sequences of the mitochondrial DNA barcode, also used for the reconstruction of the phylogenetic relationships within the recently resurrected and recognized family Thoridae Kingsley, 1879. Eight zoeal stages and one decapodid complete this species larval development. In the genus Thor, the number of zoeal stages varies greatly from two (T. dobkini) to eight (T. amboinensis and T. floridanus). The larvae of T. ambionensis and T. floridanus are readily distinguished from each other by the ornamentation of the ventral margin of the carapace and the pereiopods development. The first zoeal stage of T. amboinensis described by Yang & Okuno (2004) and the one described in present study are very similar. A brief discussion on the morphological characters and on the number of zoeal stages of the genus, as well as of the previous larval descriptions is made. The phylogenetic analysis suggest cryptic speciation for geographical separated populations of T. amboinensis, paraphyly of the genus Eualus, and the reassignment of E. cranchii to a different genus.

MarinEye — A tool for marine monitoring

This work presents an autonomous system for marine integrated physical-chemical and biological monitoring - the MarinEye system. It comprises a set of sensors providing diverse and relevant information for oceanic environment characterization and marine biology studies. It is constituted by a physical-chemical water properties sensor suite, a water filtration and sampling system for DNA collection, a plankton imaging system and biomass assessment acoustic system. The MarinEye system has onboard computational and logging capabilities allowing it either for autonomous operation or for integration in other marine observing systems (such as Observatories or robotic vehicles. It was designed in order to collect integrated multi-trophic monitoring data. The validation in operational environment on 3 marine observatories: RAIA, BerlengasWatch and Cascais on the coast of Portugal is also discussed.