Munida microphthalma A. Milne-Edwards, 1880

Kilgour, Morgan J. & Shirley, Thomas C., 2014, Reproductive biology of galatheoid and chirostyloid (Crustacea: Decapoda) squat lobsters from the Gulf of Mexico, Zootaxa 3754 (4), pp. 381-419 : 396

Munida microphthalma A. Milne-Edwards, 1880

Munida microphthalma is found throughout the Atlantic from Brazil to Iceland in depths of 667 to 2094 m ( Milne-Edwards 1880; Hansen 1908; de Melo-Filho & de Melo 2001a; Baba et al. 2008). The specimens used in this analysis were from the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico in depths of 211 to 2412 m. Specimens were collected in all months except February, September, and October; ovigerous specimens were collected in April, June, and December ( Fig. 9 B). Eleven males were measured, one female, and six ovigerous females. Male CW ranged from 8.7 to 14 mm. The non-ovigerous females had a CW of 8 mm, and the ovigerous female CW ranged from 4.0 to 12.3 mm. Males and females did not have significant differences in size (t-test, df = 16, t = -1.620, p = 0.125); this is consistent with previous reports ( Wenner 1982). Eggs were measured for three ovigerous females. The numbers of eggs ranged from 51 to 1100 eggs with average widths of 0.50 to 0.51 mm; this was different from previous reports which had a fecundity of 1210 to 3085 eggs and egg diameters of 0.58 to 0.67 mm ( Wenner 1982). Sample size was not sufficient to conduct linear regression on this species for number of eggs by CW and average egg diameter by CW.

Figures

FIGURE 9. Number of specimens of each species collected for each month. Gray bars are males, white bars are females, and black bars are ovigerous females.