title: The branchiostegal lung of Uca vocans (Decapoda: Ocypodidae): Unreported complexity revealed by corrosion casting and MicroCT techniques.
abstract: The study of adaptation to terrestrial life in crabs poses several physiological questions. One of the major challenges the crabs have to face is respiration of air: most of the time, gills are unsuitable to perform oxygen exchange out of the water. Fiddler crabs, like other representatives of the Ocypodidae, have developed an additional mechanism of respiration by improving the circulation that lines the branchiostegal chamber, thus developing a branchiostegal lung. In the present study we describe the hitherto unreported complex morphology of the branchiostegal lung of the fiddler crab Uca vocans by means of corrosion casting techniques and 3D reconstruction. This complexity leads us to reconsider the degree of terrestriality of U. vocans and its evolutionary pathway towards land.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, University of Siena, Via Aldo Moro 2, 53100 Siena, Italy. Electronic address: francesco.paoli@entecra.it.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Paoli
authors.affiliation: Allgemeine & Spezielle Zoologie, Institut für Biowissenschaften, Universität Rostock, Universitätsplatz 2, 18055 Rostock, Germany. Electronic address: christian.wirkner@web.de.
authors.forename: Christian S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Wirkner
authors.affiliation: The Swire Institute of Marine Science and The School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong; Department of Biology, University of Florence, Via Madonna del Piano 6, Sesto Fiorentino 50019, Italy. Electronic address: cannicci@hku.hk.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cannicci
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003386:Brachyura / Q000166:cytology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D016319:Corrosion Casting; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008168:Lung / Q000166:cytology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D055114:X-Ray Microtomography
keywords: 3D reconstruction; Branchiostegite; Crab; Evolution; Lung morphology; Pulmonary circulation; Terrestrial adaptations; Terrestrial life; Terrestrialisation; μCT