Mid- to late stage phyllosoma larvae of Panulirus brunneiflagellum Sekiguchi & George, 2005 collected south of the Ogasawara Islands, Japan.

Abstract

Mid- to late stage phyllosoma larvae, assigned to 7th and 8th stages, collected south of the Ogasawara Islands, Japan, were determined to be Panulirus brunneiflagellum Sekiguchi & George, 2005 by DNA barcoding, and morphological description was given for the first time. Phylogenetic analysis based on the mtDNA COI sequences indicated that the most closely related species to P. brunneiflagellum was P. marginatus, and hence P. brunneiflagellum was indicated to belong to ‘Panulirus longipes group’. The larval morphology also indicated P. brunneiflagellum to be a member of the same group, in which the ratio of carapace shield width to thoracic width was larger than that of P. japonicus but similar to those of the other species of ‘Panulirus longipes group’ previously reported.