The larval development of Upogebia assisi Barnard, 1974 (Decapoda, Upogebiidae) reared under laboratory conditions from ovigerous femail to postlarvae

Abstract

The ovigerous females of Upogebia (Upogebia assisi) were collected from Pacha (24o 50 54"N, 66o 43 E) on October 6 and 7, 1994 and 1995 respectively. They were kept for rearing under laboratory conditions at room temperature (25-32oC) in the filtered seawater with salanity of 35-36 parts per thousand (ppt) and pH 7.8-9. Development of larvae proceeds from first to three or four zoeal and postlarval stages in the duration of 8-14 days. The larval and postlarval stages of Upogebia (U. assisi) are described, illustrated and compared with the laboratory reared larval and postlarval stages of U. quddusiae by Siddiqui and Tirmizi (1995) from Pakistan and Upogebia (U. kempi) n.sp. by Shenoy (1967) from India.