Morphological diversity in true and false crabs reveals the plesiomorphy of the megalopa phase

Brachyura and Anomala (or Anomura), also referred to as true and false crabs, form the species-rich and globally abundant group of Meiura, an ingroup of Decapoda. The evolutionary success of both groups is sometimes attributed to the process of carcinization (evolving a crab-like body), but might al...

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Published inScientific reports Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 8682
Main Authors Braig, Florian, Haug, Carolin, Haug, Joachim T.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Nature Publishing Group UK 15.04.2024
Nature Publishing Group
Nature Portfolio
Subjects
631/136
631/601
Adults
Aquatic crustaceans
Biodiversity
Brachyura
Carnivorous animals
Crustaceans
Decapoda
Evolution
Humanities and Social Sciences
Larvae
Marine crustaceans
Morphology
multidisciplinary
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
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Summary:Brachyura and Anomala (or Anomura), also referred to as true and false crabs, form the species-rich and globally abundant group of Meiura, an ingroup of Decapoda. The evolutionary success of both groups is sometimes attributed to the process of carcinization (evolving a crab-like body), but might also be connected to the megalopa, a specific transitional larval phase. We investigate these questions, using outline analysis of the shields (carapaces) of more than 1500 meiuran crabs. We compare the morphological diversity of different developmental phases of major ingroups of true and false crabs. We find that morphological diversity of adults is larger in false crabs than in true crabs, indicating that taxonomic diversity and morphological diversity are not necessarily linked. The increasing morphological disparity of adults of true and false crabs with increasing phylogenetic distance furthermore indicates diverging evolution of the shield morphology of adult representatives of Meiura. Larvae of true crabs also show larger diversity than their adult counterparts, highlighting the importance of larvae for biodiversity studies. The megalopa phase of Meiura appears to be plesiomorphic, as it overlaps between true and false crabs and shows little diversity. Causes may be common evolutionary constraints on a developmental phase specialized for transitioning.
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ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-024-58780-7