The morphology of cardiac and pyloric foregut of Aegla platensis Schmitt (Crustacea: Anomura: Aeglidae)

Castro, T.S., and Bond-Buckup, G. 2003. The morphology of cardiac and pyloric foregut of Aegla platensis Schmitt (Crustacea: Anomura: Aeglidae). In: Lemaitre, R., and Tudge, C.C. (eds), Biology of the Anomura. Proceedings of a symposium at the Fifth International Crustacean Congress, Melbourne, Australia, 9‐13 July 2001. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 60(1): 53‐57. The aeglid crab, Aegla platensis Schmitt 1942, is endemic to fresh waters in temperate and subtropical regions of South America. The cardiac and pyloric foregut of southern Brazilian specimens of A. platensis were fixed in buffered 10% formalin and prepared for scanning electron microscopy. In the cardiac foregut, the gastric mill, lateral wall and cardiac-pyloric valve ossicles were identified, while in the pyloric foregut, dorsally, ventrally and laterally supported ossicles were characterised. These results show the complexity of the A. platensis foregut and support the hypothesis that the most complex gastric mills are found in the Brachyura and Anomura.