The First Larval Description of the Common Aesop Slipper Lobster Scyllarides haanii (Decapoda: Achelata: Scyllaridae)

Abstract

A late-stage phyllosoma, collected from the North Pacific Ocean, was identified as Scyllarides haanii (De Haan, 1841) by DNA analysis. A morphological description of the phyllosoma of this common Indo-Pacific species is given for the first time. Larval characteristics of late phyllosoma stages are compared with those of previously described Scyllarides Gill, 1898 and related genera. A tentative key to scyllarid phyllosomas in the late-stages is also provided.

Keywords

• crustacea
• achelata
• scyllaridae
• phyllosoma larva
• dna barcoding