Favoritos de blastcat

Leaf litter investigation under red cedar

Contrast of the ventral shots was enhanced significantly to make detail visible. Specimen cooperatively decided to attempt to convince me it was dead, permitting clear ventral shots; when deposited back in the leaf litter, it exhibited a magical "revival."

NUMBER: 20221012
SPECIES: Blue Crab, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 1896[1]
COLLECTION: Commercial crabbing by Craig Miller
ANOMALY: Duplicated male gonopods (Fig. A). The long, curved, tubular first pleopod in the Blue carb is the gonopod. It, not the penis, is the interomittent organ used to deliver spermatophores to the female gonopore. The second pleopod is much shorter and functions as a piston to push spermatophores through the hollow core of the gonopod. Rodríguez and Campos (2000) summarized the anomalies of freshwater crab gonopods, including a bifid first left male gonopod (ibid, Figs. 2C,D); however, the flagellum was absent and only the bases of the gonopod were crudely duplicated. Our bifurcations occurred on both sides and were normally-shaped duplicates. Akkari et al. (2014, & references therein) reported extra pairs of gonopods in millipedes, but no bifurcations. Mesibov (2020) reported rare cases of gonopod anomalies in 2 species of millipedes in Tasmania. Keeton (1959) reported bifid basal or prefermoral spines on both male gonopods of a millipede. We have found no other records of duplication of any kind of gonopod.
LOCALITY: Wye River, Maryland
LATITUDE, LONGITUDE: 38.87051, -76.17717
DATE: 12 October 2022
PHOTOGRAPH: Craig Miller
OBSERVERS: Craig Miller,[2] Michael J. Dowgiallo,[3] Ernest H. Williams, Jr. [4,5,7,8] and Lucy Bunkley-Williams[4,6,7,9]
REFERENCES:
<>Akkari, N., H. Enghoff, and A. Minelli, 2014. Segmentation of the millipede trunk as suggested by a homeotic mutant with six extra pairs of gonopods. Frontiers in Zoology 11: 6. https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-9994-11-6
<>Keeton, W. T. 1959. A revision of the milliped genus Brachoria (Polydesmida, Xtstodemidae). Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum 109(3411): 1-58. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00963801.109-3411.1
<>Mesibov, R. 2020. A second remarkable case of parapatry in a Tasmanian millipede genus (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Dalodesmidae). In: Z. Korsós and L. Dányi (Eds). Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Myriapodology, Budapest, Hungary. ZooKeys 930: 89–101. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.930.38031
<> Rodríguez, G. and M. R. Campos. 2000. Microthelphusa sucreensis: A new species of Pseudothelphusidae (Decapoda) with notes on abnormalities in the sexual appendages of fresh-water crabs. Journal of Crustacean Biology. 20(2): 332-336. https://academic.oup.com› jcb › article-pdf › jcb0332
<>Williams, E. H., Jr. and L. Bunkley-Williams. 2021. The first report of an Albino/Blue Bi-hemispheric Chimera Blue Crab, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, chimera. iNaturalist #93671783, ResearchGate, 4 September 2021 (open access) [602].
<>Williams, E. H., Jr., C. D. Miller, M. J. Dowgiallo, L. Bunkley-Williams. 2022. Bilateral gynandromorph (half female half male) of Blue Crab, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, in Maryland. iNaturalist #141401841, ResearchGate, 7 November 2022 (open access) [710].
<>Williams, E. H., Jr., C. Miller, M. J. Dowgiallo, L. Bunkley-Williams. 2022.[1] First report ever of completely duplicated gonopores, occurring in a Blue Crab, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, in Maryland. iNaturalist #141625605, ResearchGate, 8 November 2022 (open access) [711].
FOOTNOTES:
[1]Identification was peer-reviewed, text edited and condensed. The entire, original text is in our available reprint [711]. [2] 1263 Bacon Ridge Road, Crownsville, Maryland 21032, craigdouglasmiller@yahoo.com; [3]Retired NOAA Branch Chief, 12104 Tulip Grove Drive, Bowie, Maryland, 20715-2336; [4]Extraordinary Professors, Potchefstroom Campus, North-West University, South Africa; Adjunct Professors, Research Field Station, Florida Gulf Coast University, 5164 Bonita Beach Road, Bonita Springs, FL 34134; [5]Dept. Marine Sciences, University of Puerto Rico (retired); [6]Dept. Biology, UPR (retired); [7]920 St. Andrews Blvd, Naples, FL 34113-8943; [8]e-mail ermest.williams1@upr.edu; cell 239-227-3645, ORCID 0000-0003-0913-3013; [9]Cell 787-467-2179, e-mail lucy.williams1@upr.edu, ORCID 0000-0003-1390-911x