Comparative morphology of the stomach ossicles of four freshwater crabs species of Dilocarcinini (Crustacea, Decapoda, Trichodactylidae)

Abstract The morphology of the foregut ossicles of representatives of four genera of Dilocarcinini were described to assess the usefulness of the ossicles as possible morphological characters in studies on the intrafamilial relationships of Trichodactylidae. Stomachs of specimens of Dilocarcinus pagei Stimpson, 1861, D. septemdentatus (Herbst, 1783), Moreirocarcinus emarginatus (H. Milne Edwards, 1853) and M. laevifrons (Moreira, 1901) were heated for 60 minutes in 10% KOH solution and then were stained with Alizarin Red 1% added into the KOH solution. The foregut ossicles of Dilocarcinini con...