Meeting Abstract

51.1  Saturday, Jan. 5  Comparative morphology of glandular setae, distal claws, and terminal fangs of the crustacean remipede Speleonectes tanumekes. VAN DER HAM, J.L.*; FELGENHAUER, B.E.; Univ. Louisiana at Lafayette; Univ. Louisiana at Lafayette jvdham@louisiana.edu

Terminal pores on crustacean setae are commonly associated with chemoreception. We present an exception to that association with the description of glandular setae found on maxillulary and maxillary endites of the remipede Speleonectes tanumekes. These observations introduce a function for crustacean setae beyond the general functions currently associated with such setae: sensory functions, mechanical functions, or a combination of these two. In addition, we present glandular structures of the maxillary and maxillipedal distal claws and of the maxillulary terminal fang of the same remipede species. All these glandular features of the cephalic appendages appear to share several ultrastructural homologies.