Density-dependent effects on parasite fitness have been documented from adult helminths in their definitive hosts. There have, however, been no studies on the cost of sharing an intermediate host with other parasites in terms of reduced adult parasite fecundity. Even if larval parasites suffer a reduction in size, caused by crowding, virtually nothing is known about longer-lasting effects after...

Among the fiddler crabs from the Americas, Uca panamensis (Stimpson, 1859) (Crustacea: Decapoda: Ocypodidae) is unusual in its behavior and ecology, living in stony habitats rather than sandy or muddy substrates. This species also has several unusual morphological characters of the carapace and major and minor chelae, and had been placed in either the subgenera Minuca Bott, 1954, or Leptuca Bot...

* To whom correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed. Some crabs (and other crustaceans) build structures (pillars, hoods, chimneys, etc.) next to their burrows (Powers and Bliss 1983). Some of these structures have been shown to function for sexual attraction, e.g., pillars (Uca: Christy 1988a b), hoods (Uca: Zucker 1974 1981, Christy et al. 2002 2003), mudballs (Uca: Oliveira et ...

Previously undescribed third-stage larvae of two species of Spirurida were found in the haemocoel of the stalk-eyed mud crab Macrophthalmus hirtipes (Heller) (Ocypodidae) in New Zealand. Examinations by light and scanning electron microscopy showed that the larger larvae (about 7 mm long) belonged to a species of Ascarophis van Beneden, 1871 (Cystidicolidae), the genus including parasites of fi...