Larval development of Nauticaris magellanica (A. Milne!Edwards, 1891) (Decapoda: Caridea: Hippolytidae), reared under laboratory conditions

Nauticaris magellanica is the only representative of this genus inhabiting the southern part of South America. Ovigerous females were collected from mussel raft cultures in Metri, central-southern Chile. Larvae were reared at 13 degrees C and 31 parts per thousand in the laboratory from hatching to the first juvenile stage. The larval development consists of a minimum of nine zoeal stages; the only juvenile obtained passed through five decapodid stages. Early developmental stages are described, and morphological characters of newly-hatched larvae were compared with those of N. marionis: both species are separable using (1) the presence/absence of a row of small denticles located at the postero-dorsal margin of the fifth abdominal segment, and (2) the size of the larvae. Despite some differences between the morphology of the juvenile obtained and reported adult characteristics, the juvenile was sufficiently developed to allow identification to the species level.