External morphology of Parastacus brasiliensis (Decapoda, Parnstacidac)

Parastacus brasiliensis (von Martens, 1869) is an endemic South Brazilian freshwater crayfish that occurs in the river systems belonging to the Guaiba estuary, in the central lowlands of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The aim of this study is to describe and illustrate the external morphology and the distribution of the different types of setae on the appendages of adult P. brasiliensis. In laboratory, the specimens were dissected and the details of the morphological organization described and drawn with a camara lucida adapted to a stereomicroscope. A scanning electron microscope was utilized for a more detailed study of the setae. The results were compared with other crayfish species and also with the juvenile stages of P. brasiliensis. The types and the distributional pattern of the setae observed are similar to Austropotamobius pallipes (Lereboullet, 1858). Differences were found in the basipodite and the coxopodite of the first maxilliped and in the first maxilla of P. brasiliensis, where the serrate setae are replaced by the plumodenticulate and multidenticulate forms.