Fate of the second maxilla during
embryogenesis in some Anomopoda Crustacea
(Branchiopoda)
ALEXEY KOTOV
Institute of Animal Evolutionary M orphology and Ecology, Russian Academy of Sciences,
Leninsky Prospect 33, M oscow 117071, Russia
Received January 1995, accepted for publication M arch 1995
The maxilla II, normally present in crustaceans, is absent in most adult anomopods although it was
found to occur in embryos of six species of this group. The appendage is reduced in representatives of
families that lack it in the adult. The disappearance of the second maxilla is accomplished in a different
way in the Chydoridae and Bosminidae as compared with the Daphniidae. A biramous structure of this
appendage was observed in some stages of development in the largest species of Anomopoda. This
feature of morphology is similar to the situation in other Branchiopoda.
©1996 The Linnean Society of London
ADDITIONAL KEY WORDS:— Head appendages – maxilla II – later embryogenesis –
Anomopoda.
CONTENTS
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
Material and methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
The periodization of Anomopoda embryogenesis . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
The development of the second maxilla in Eurycercus lamellatus . . . . . . . . 398
The development of the second maxilla in Bosmina . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
The second maxilla in the embryogenesis of Daphnia . . . . . . . . . . . 400
Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
INTRODUCTION
The maxilla II, normally present in crustaceans, is absent in most adult
anomopods. Another peculiar feature of these animals is the considerable
morphological difference of the first trunk limb compared with the other thoracic
appendages (Cannon, 1933). There is a special lobe near the basis of the first limb
of the Chydoridae and Macrothricidae (‘inner lobe’ of Fryer (1963)) which is similar
in some respects to the maxilla (maxilla II) of some of those branchiopods that have
Z oological Journal of the Linnean Society (1996), 116: 393–405. With 6 figures
393
0024–4082/ 96/ 040393 + 13 $18.00/ 0 ©1996 The Linnean Society of London