Abstract

A complete and detailed description of the first zoeal stage of the burrowing shrimp, Lepidophthalmus bocourti (Callichiridae), is presented. Larvae were obtained in the laboratory from three females with embryos collected in the mangrove area of Mata de Limón, Pacific coast of Costa Rica. The morphological characters of the first zoea are compared with the corresponding stage of other known American species of the family Callichiridae. The first zoea of L. bocourti can be separated from its congenerics, L. lousianensis, L. sinuensis, L. siriboia, by the combination of different morphological characters, among them, the ornamentation of maxillule, the segmentation of maxilla endopod, the presence of an unfused coxa-basis on the maxilliped 1–3. Further comparisons of the morphology of the first zoea between species of the family Callichiridae and Callianassidae reinforce the idea of phylogenetic proximity between both families as supported by recent molecular studies.