Reproduction of the speckled swimming crab Arenaeus cribrarius (Brachyura : portunidae) on the Brazilian coast near 23 degrees 30 ' S

The reproductive biology of Arenaeus cribrarius from Ubatuba, São Paulo State, Brazil, was studied. Swimming crabs were sampled monthly for two years with otter trawls in two bays. A total of 941 males and 1,012 females were examined. Mating took place mainly in autumn involving postmolt females and intermolt males. At that time, gonad regression was verified in adult males, due to spermatophore transfer, and the molting of adult females. Ovigerous females or females with mature gonads were present year-round but more frequently captured during spring and summer. We found that 19, of all adult females were premolt, which indicated the occurrence of another mature instar and thus the absence of a well-defined terminal molt after puberty. Intermolt males were captured throughout the whole study period.

The first zoeal stage of the genus Cronius (Brachyura, Portunidae) from the Brazilian coast, hatched in a laboratory

This study describes the first zoeal stage of Cronius ruber and Cronius tumidulus. The zoeae can be distinguished using the setation of the cephalic appendages and the lateral process on the abdominal somite.

Relative growth and morphological sexual maturity of Chasmagnathus granulatus (Crustacea, Varunidae) from a mangrove area in southeastern Brazilian coast

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

Relative growth of Uca burgersi (Crustacea, Ocypodidae) from two mangroves in the southeastern Brazilian coast

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

Can seasonal differences influence food web structure on preserved habitats? Responses from two Brazilian streams

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

Subtropical Brazilian mangroves as a refuge of crab (Decapoda: Brachyura) diversity

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

Reproductive output of the spider crab Epialtus bituberculatus (H. Milne Edwards, 1834) (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura) associated with beds of the alga Sargassum cymosum (C. Agardh, 1820) on the southeastern Brazilian coast

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Two new genera of Pteronemobiini crickets from the Brazilian Atlantic forest (Orthoptera, Grylloidea, Trigonidiidae, Nemobiinae)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Bathymetric distribution of the shrimp Rimapenaeus constrictus (Stimpson, 1874) (Decapoda, Penaeidae) in two locations off the southeastern Brazilian coast

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

Predation of herps by spiders (Araneae) in the Brazilian Cerrado.

Two events of predation of herps by spiders in the Brazilian Cerrado are reported here. A lizard Micrablepharus atticolus (Sauria: Gymnophthalmidae) was found being preyed upon by Lycosa erythrognatha (Araneae: Lycosidae) and a frog Physalaemus cuvieri (Anura: Leiuperidae) was seen being preyed upon by Ancylometes sp. (Araneae: Ctenidae).

Relative growth and morphological sexual maturity of Uca Cumulanta (Crustacea : Decapoda : Ocypodidae) from a tropical Brazilian mangrove population

The relative growth of the fiddler crab Uca cumulanta was studied, primarily to determine the size at the onset of sexual maturity for a mangrove population in the estuary of the Patitiba River, Paraty, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. The evaluation of the morphological sexual maturity of U. cumulanta was performed using the allometric technique. The relationships that most precisely indicated the size at onset of sexual maturity were carapace length (CL) vs propodus length for males and CL vs abdomen width for females. Males and females are mature at 5.25 and 4.75 mm CL, respectively. The remarkable ontogenetic changes observed in the allometric growth of the male major cheliped and the female abdomen, indicate that growth of these structures is closely connected to the timing of sexual maturity. The relative size at onset maturity obtained for this species was 0.68 and this index was compared to that seen in other species in the genus.

Morphohistological study of testicles of the Brazilian diplopod Pseudonannolene tricolor Brolemann, 1901 (Pseudonannolenidae, Pseudonannolenida)

:The morphology and histology of testicles of the Brazilian species of diplopod Pseudonannolene tricolor Brolemann, 1901 are presented. The study is based in testicular vesicles that show differentiated spermatozoa in their interior.

Structural characterization of a new acylpolyaminetoxin from the venom of Brazilian garden spider Nephilengys cruentata

Mario Sergio Palma, Yasuhiro Itagaki, Tsuyoshi Fujita, Hideo Naoki and Terumi Nakajima. Structural characterization of a new acylpolpaminetoxin from the venom of Brazilian garden spider Nephilengys: cruentata. Toxicon 36, 455-493, 1998.-The use of mass spectrometry, in which high-energy CID and charge remote fragmentation both of protonated and sodium-attached molecular ions was applied, afforded the structural elucidation of a new acylgolyaminetoxin with M-W= 801 da from the venom of the Brazilian garden spider Nephilengys cruentata. In spite of having the same M-W of the NPTX-2, previously described in the venom of the Joro spider Nephila clavata, neither toxins are isomers. In order to differentiate them by using the most usual nomenclature, the new toxin was named NPTX-801C and the NPTX-2 was renamed to NPTX-801E. Both toxins have as common structure the 4-hydroxyindole-3-acetyl-asparaginyl-cadaveryl moiety in their molecules and their structure may be represented in a simplified way: NPTX-801E is HO-indole-Asn-Cad-Pta-Orn-Arg and NPTX-801C is HO-indole-Asn-Cad-Gly-Put-Pta-Pta. (C) 1998 Elsevier B.V. Ltd. All rights reserved.