Phyllosoma larvae from the Indian Ocean collected by the Dana expedition 1928-1930

Abstract

The systematics of the phyllosoma larval forms collected by the Dana Expedition in 1928-30 from the Indian Ocean region is dealt with in the contribution. Out of the 1983 larvae, 1087 were those of species belonging to the family Palinuridae and 896 of the family Scyllaridae. Among the palinurids, 10 species belonging to 4 genera, namely, Panulirus versicolor, P. homarus, P. longipes, P. ornatus, Palinurellus weineclcii, Panulirus polyphagus, P. penicillatus, Palinustus mossambicus, Panulirus sp. I and Puerulus angulatus were recorded in the order of abundance. The scyllarids belonged to 12 species under 5 genera and in their order of abundance they were Scyllarus martensii, S. rugosus, S. cuttrifer S. amabilis, S. batei, Parribacus antarcticus, Scyllarides sp., Scyllarus sp. I, Thenus orientalis, Scyllarus sp. II, Scyllarus sp. Ill and Evibacus sp. Based on the material available in the collection and in a few cases on descriptions of certain stages given by earlier authors, the salient features in the different stages of development of the different species are summarised in Tables. A higher concentration of larvae contributed by palinurids was observed in the western half of the Indian Ocean.