Advances in Decapod Crustacean Research

Decapod crustaceans are a particularly important animal group in a variety of aquatic environments, such as freshwater, estuaries, and oceans. Research on this group has increased during recent decades, and relates to their economic and ecological importance. The papers included reflect current trends in decapod crustacean research, and present results on a diversity of specific research fields, grouped into the major themes: a) Systematics, Phylogeny, and Biogeography, b) Growth, Morphology, and Development, c) Ecology and Behaviour, d) Reproduction, and e) Fisheries and Culture. The Colloquia Crustacea Decapoda Mediterranea are devoted to decapod crustacean research, and organised on a 3-year basis by institutions of the Mediterranean geographical area. The scope of these meetings has progressively widened throughout the sequence of events, and presently welcomes contributions from crustacean research world-wide.

Preface. 1: Systematics, Phylogeny and Biogeography.
Phylogeny of decapods: moving towards a consensus
F.R. Schram.
Notes on the position of the true freshwater crabs within the
Brachyrhynchan Eubrachyura (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura)
R.V.
Sternberg, N. Cumberlidge. Molecular phylogeny of the crab
genus (Brachyura: Varunidae) based on the 16S rRNA gene
C.D.
Schubart, et al. A new genus in the Upogebidae and rediagnosis of
its close relative, Gebiacantha Ngoc-Ho, 1989 (Crustacea:
Decapoda: Thalassinidea)
N. Ngoc-Ho. Recent samples of
mainly rare decapod Crustacea taken from the deep-sea floor of the
southern West Europe Basin
L. Tiefenbacher. Data on the family
Pandalidae around the Canary Islands, with first record of
Plesionika antigai (Caridea)
J.A. Gonzalez, et al.
Crustacea Decapoda of Paripe River Estuary, Pernambuco, Brazil

M.A. Coelho dos Santos, P.A. Coelho. Decapod fauna of
intertidal habitats on Socotra Island, Yemen
F. Simoes, et
al. The crab species found on the coasts of Gokceada
(Imbroz) Island in the Aegean Sea
H. Balkis, et al. Evidence of
paraphyly in the neotropical Porcellanid genus Neopisosoma
(Crustacea: Anomura: Porcellanidae) based on molecular characters

B. Werding, et al. 2: Growth Morphology and
Development. Growth in Crustacea - twenty years on

R.G. Hartnoll. Sex-related variability of rostrum
morphometry of Aristeus antennatus (Decapoda: Aristeidae)
from the Ionian Sea (Eastern Mediterranean, Greece)
K. Kapiris, M.
Thessalou-Legaki. Influence of diet on sex differentiation of
Hippolyte inermis Leach (Decapoda: Natantia) in the field
V.
Zupo. Combined effects of temperature and salinity on the larval
development of the estuarine mud prawn Upogebia africana
(Decapoda, Thalassinidea)
J. Paula, et al. Mitotic and meiotic
chromosomes of the American lobster Homarus americanus (Nephropidae,
Decapoda)
E. Coluccia, et al. 3: Ecology and Behaviour.
Larval abundance and recruitment of Carcinus maenas L. close to
its southern geographical limit: a case of match and mismatch
M.
Sprung. Choice of prey size and species in Carcinus maenas
(L.) feeding on four bivalves of contrasting shell morphology
M.
Mascaro, R. Seed. Intertidal distribution and species
composition of brachyuran crabs at two rocky shores in central
Portugal
A.V.V. Flores, J. Paula. Morphometric comparison
between Mediterranean and Atlantic populations of Pontophilus
norvegicus (Decapoda, Crangonidae)
S. De Grave, D.
Diaz. Notes on the distribution and biology of the deep-sea crab
Bathynectes maravigna (Brachyura: Portunidae) in the
Mediterranean Sea
P. Abello, et al. Notes on the biology
of Cancer bellianus (Brachyura, Cancridae) around the Canary
islands
J.A. Quiles, et al. Comparative suitability of
binocular observation, burrow counting and excavation for the
quantification of the mangrove fiddler crab Uca annulipes (H.
Milne Edwards)
M.W. Skov, R.G. Hartnoll. A comparison of
alternative methods for estimating population density of the fiddler
crab Uca annulipes at Saco mangrove, Inhaca Island (Mozambique)

A. Macia, et al. Aspects of the population dynamics of
Neosarmatium meinerti at Mgazana, a warm temperate mangrove
swamp in the East Cape, South Africa, investigated using an indirect
method
W.D. Emmerson. Seasonal abundance and recruitment in an
estuarine population of mud crabs, Scylla paramamosain, in the
Mekong Delta, Vietnam
L. Le Vay, et al. Major claws make male
fiddler crabs more conspicuous to visual predators: a test using human
observers
J.M. Jordao, R.F. Oliveira. Feeding activity
of Callinectes omatus Ordway, 1863 and Callinectes danae
Smith, 1869 (Crustacea, Brachyura, Portunidae) in Ubatuba, SP, Brazil

A.L.D. Reigada, M.L. Negreiros-Fransozo. 4:
Reproduction. A histochemical and ultrastructural study of
oogenesis in Aristaeomorpha foliacea (Risso, 1827)
S.
Desantis, et al. Prevalence of bacteria in the spermathecae of
female snow crab, Chionoecetes opilio (Brachyura: Majidae)

K. Benhalima, M. Moriyasu. 5: Fisheries and Culture.
Discards of the Algarve (Southern Portugal) crustacean trawl fishery

P. Monteiro, et al. Effect of codend mesh size on the
performance of the deep-water bottom trawl used in the red shrimp
fishery in the Strait of Sicily (Mediterranean Sea)
S. Ragonese,
et al. Protein requirement of the prawn Marsupenaeus
japonicus estimated by a factorial method
S. Teshima, et
al. The effect of fixatives in the quantification of morphological
lipofuscin as an age index in crustaceans
P.
Encamacao, M. Castro.