Callinectes bellicosus
Creators: name: Cházaro-Olvera, Sergio
name: Escamilla-Montes, Ruth
name: Diarte-Plata, Genaro
name: Vargas-Téllez, Irma
name: Granados-Alcantar, Salvador
name: Vázquez-López, Horacio
name: Luna-González, Antonio
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Malacostraca
Decapoda
Portunidae
Callinectes
Callinectes bellicosus

description: Results
Temperature and salinity conditions (salinity 35 psu, 20.5°C ± 1.5°C) were maintained during their culture, the first zoea of C. bellicosus appeared at day 1.
First zoea (Figure 1)
Cephalothorax. Size (Figure 1a,b): total length 1.05 ± 0.02 mm; carapace length 0.35 ± 0.03 mm; lateral spines present 0.11 ± 0.01 mm, length of dorsal spine 0.31 ± 0.02 mm; length of rostral spine 0.26 ± 0.01 mm; tip of dorsal to tip of rostral spine 0.83 ± 0.02 mm; width of carapace 0.24 ± 0.01 mm. Rostral spine length similar to the length of the antenna. With two dorsal setae. Eyes sessile.
Antennule (Figure 1c) Uniramous. Oblong in shape, about 2 times long as broad. Endopodite absent. Exopodite unsegmented with 3 terminal aesthetascs, and 1 terminal simple seta.
Antenna (Figure 1d) Biramous. Protopodite with 2 rows of well-developed spines. Exopodite with two unequal distal setae, size 1/10 with respect to the spinous process.
Mandible (Figure 1e) Incisor and molar processes well-developed. Palp absent.
Maxillule (Figure 2a) Coxal endite with 2 + 3 terminal plumose setae. Basial endite with 2 + 3 plumose terminals. Endopodite 2-segmented, proximal segment without setae, distal segment with 5 terminal plumose setae.
Maxilla (Figure 2b) Coxal endite bilobed, with 3 + 3 setae. Basial endite bilobed, with 4 + 4 setae. Endopodite unsegmented, 2 + 3 terminal setae. Scaphognathite with 4 plumose marginal setae and a plumose apical tip.
First maxilliped (Figure 2c) Coxa without setae. Basis with 9 simple mesial setae arranged 2, 2, 3, 3. Endopodite 5-segmented with 2, 2, 0, 2, 5 simple setae. Exopodite 2-segmented, distal segment with 4 terminal plumose natatory setae.
Second maxilliped (Figure 2d) Coxa without setae. Basis with 3 long mesial simple setae arranged 1, 0, 1, 1. Endopodite 3-segmented, with 1, 1, 5 (2 large plumose and 3 simple) setae. Exopodite 2-segmented, with 4 long plumose natatory setae.
Third maxilliped. Rudimentary.
Pereiopods. Rudimentary.
Pleopods. Absent.
Pleon (Figure 2e). Five pleonites excluding telson; pleonites 2 and 3 with a pair of dorsolateral processes. Telson bifurcated, posterior margin with three pairs of serrulated setae. Furcae with two strong lateral spines placed closer to the base of the furca, minute secondary spinule near the base of the lateral spine; two spines on the dorsal surface of the furca placed slightly distal and close to the base of the lateral spine; posterior margin with three pairs of setae.
Discussion
It is important to emphasise that it is commonly difficult to differentiate between the larvae of some species, especially if it is the same genus, since their distinctions are based only on small morphological differences. In such cases, the reliability of the specific descriptions can be feasible only when the larval stages are obtained in the laboratory (Kornienko and Korn 2009).
One of the first criteria that allows the identification of Brachyura zoeae are: the presence, absence, size and ornamentation of lateral, rostral and dorsal spines (Koettker et al. 2012; Cházaro-Olvera et al. 2014). All the species of the Portunidae family have lateral, rostral and dorsal spines (Mantelatto et al. 2014).
In the last decades, the use of larval characters in systematic studies has been accepted and applied by taxonomists (Cuesta and Anger 2001). In addition, as more larvae are described, morphological comparisons become more feasible (Rieger 1998), hereby lays the importance of the contribution of this work with the description of C. bellicosus.
The morphological characteristics of brachyuran zoeae help establish character states as primitives or derivatives (Rice 1983). In systematic and phylogenetic studies (Clark et al. 1998), according to Rice (1983), there is an evolutionary trend of zoeae from brachyura larvae, where the derived taxa reduce the number of spines, setae and segments, compared to the most primitive taxa, as in this case the species of the Portunidae Family.
In this regard, Aikawa (1929) mentioned that the telson type ‘A’ has three spines (one pair of well-developed lateral spines, one pair of small lateral simple setae just below the lateral spines, and one pair of dorsal spines), with well-developed furcae, its size is one to twothirds the size of the telson, with the pointed ends extending outward; the form is triangular, and has on each side 1–3 short external denticulations on the lateral and dorsal surfaces, which vary in number according to the species, this is the type of telson that present C. bellicosus.
Rice and Ingle (1975) mentioned that the morphological characters larval of the subfamily Portuninae are: (1) well-developed lateral carapace spines, (2) dorso-lateral projections found on abdominal segments 2 and 3, (3) abdominal segments 3 to 5 with posterior lateral processes, (4) the telson fork spine number is similar and (5) there is an unarmed endopod middle segment at the first maxilliped, which corresponds to what was obtained in the present study for C. bellicosus. Mantelatto et al. (2014) found that all species of Callinectes have a proportionally shorter exopod than those of Portuninae, which also corresponds to that obtained for C. bellicosus (Table 1).
Similarly, the zoea of C. bellicosus has short antennal exopod respect to the spinous process (1/10), it is typical of the member of Callinectes (Mantelatto et al. 2007). The difference with other species of Callinectes is in the antennule, C. bellicosus has three aesthetacs and a seta.
Finally, the results found in this study support the results obtained from molecular analysis (Mantelatto et al. 2007) where the genus Callinectes form a homogeny group respect to another genus of Portunidae. On the other hand, Robles et al. (2007) realised a molecular analysis of the genus Callinectes and found two evolutionary groups: the group danae and the group boucorti. In the group, danae include to the species C. arcuatus, C. bellicosus, C. danae, C. exasperatus, C. larvatus, C. ornatus, and C. similis. The authors suggested that C. bellicosus held a basal position within the (Continued) ‘danae’-group, however no obtained conclusions definitive, in such a way, that the results presented in this study could support the inclusion of the species in the group danae.
description: Published as part of Cházaro-Olvera, Sergio, Escamilla-Montes, Ruth, Diarte-Plata, Genaro, Vargas-Téllez, Irma, Granados-Alcantar, Salvador, Vázquez-López, Horacio & Luna-González, Antonio, 2021, Description of laboratory-bred first zoea of Callinectes bellicosus Stimpson, 1859 (Crustacea, Portunidae), pp. 2025-2035 in Journal of Natural History 54 (31 - 32) on pages 2027-2030, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2020.1837274, http://zenodo.org/record/5757339