Morphological descriptions of the larval and first juvenile stages of the decorator crab Camposcia retusa (Latreille, 1829) from laboratory-reared material

Abstract

The complete larval and first crab stages of the decorator crab Camposcia retusa (Latreille, 1829) are described and illustrated based on laboratory-reared material for the first time. Specimens were obtained from larvae hatched from adult crabs collected from coral reefs of Queensland, Australia. Newly hatched larvae were successfully reared to settlement as the first-stage crabs. Larval development consisted of two zoeal stages and one megalopal stage. The morphology of each larval stage was compared with those available from a previous study using material from the Red Sea. Due to substantial differences in morphology of the second zoeal and megalopal stages between the two studies, we argue that these larval stages described by the earlier report may not be that of C. retusa. Finally, the morphological characters of both larval and first crab stages of C. retusa are also compared with the corresponding stages of previously reported Inachidae.