An Update on Reproduction in Ghost Shrimps (Decapoda: Axiidea) and Mud Lobsters (Decapoda: Gebiidea)

Abstract

In this report, I review the taxonomic history, body adaptations, ecology, and reproduc- tion of the infraorders Axiidea (ghost shrimps) and Gebiidea (mud lobsters). Known until recently as the “Thalassinidea,” modern classification divided Axiidea into six families and Gebiidea into five. Ghost shrimps are characterized by having the first and second pereiopod chelate and a soft and delicate body, whereas mud lobsters possess the first pereiopod chelate or subchelate and second pereiopod subchelate or simple with a hard and heavily calcified body. Among the main body adaptations of these organisms are distinguished: (i) carapace laterally compressed, (ii) pleon longer than the cephalothorax in ghost shrimps but usually shorter in mud lobsters, and (iii) anterior feet thrown directly forward. Current accounting of axiideans and gebiideans reaches around 781 and 240 extant species, respectively, with major number of species in Callianassidae and Upogebiidae within of each clade. Male reproductive system involves paired testes linked to the vas deferens that open in gonopores on the ventral coxal segment of the fifth pereiopod. In females, the