Morphology of the first larval stage of Macrobrachium brasiliense (Heller, 1868) (Caridea: Palaemonidae)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

In this paper, we describe and illustrate the morphology of the first larval stage of the prawn Macrobrachium brasiliense. Two ovigerous females were obtained in a stream environment, which belongs to Paraná River Basin, Southeastern of Brazil, and were maintained in laboratory until the time of hatching. The newly-hatched larva bears very advance morphological features, with benthic habits. They had sessile eyes and all appendages, except for the uropods; however, most of the appendages were not fully formed. The description given here is compared with the first larval stage of Macrobrachium species with abbreviated larval development from other localities.