Post embryonic development of a pycnogonid,Propallene longiceps

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Abstract
Post-embryonic development of a pycnogonid, P. longiceps, is described from observations of the development of an individual egg to a sexually mature adult. A fertilized egg hatches after 6-7 days as a 2nd instar larva because it completes the 1st molting at the time of hatching. No protonymphon larval stage was observed. The larva of P. longiceps undergoes 3 molts during its attaching larval stage and 6 molts during its free-swimming larval stage. With the 9th molt, the larva becomes an adult. It took .apprx. 5 mo. for a fertilized egg to become an adult in P. longiceps. Some aspects of the intraclass relationship of Pallenidae are discussed.