Bathyporeia elegans with an egg in its marsupium

The marsupium or brood pouch, is a characteristic feature of Peracarida, including the orders Amphipoda, Isopoda ,and Cumacea.[1][2] It is an egg chamber formed by oostegites, which are appendages that are attached to the coxae (first segment) of the first pereiopods. Females lay their eggs directly into the brood chamber, and the young will develop there, undergoing several moults before emerging as miniature adults referred to as mancae. Males have no marsupium.

References

  1. ^ Peter Ax (2000). "Peracarida". The Phylogenetic System of the Metazoa. Multicellular Animals. Vol. 2. Springer. pp. 174–178. ISBN 978-3-540-67406-1.
  2. ^ Sol Felty Light (1974). "Subclass Peracarida". Intertidal Invertebrates of the Central California Coast (2nd ed.). University of California Press. pp. 135–171. ISBN 978-0-520-00750-5.
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