Abstract
The zoeae of four Petrolisthes species, P. japonicus, P. coccineus, P. carinipes and P. pubescens, are de scribed and illustrated on the basis of materials reared in the laboratory. It took 12-17 days under laboratory conditions from hatching to end of the second zoeal stage. Petrolisthesjaponicus is morphologically distinguishable through the zoeal stages from the other three species by the maxillule, the endopod of the first maxilliped and the telson. The first zoea of P. japonicus in the present study differs from those in previous studies in the numbers of antennular aesthetascs and spines on the basis of the maxillule. The genus Petrolisthes is divided into six groups based on six morphological characters in the first and second zoeae, representing the heterogeneity of the genus in the adult morphology.
