Kinematics and morphology: A comparison of 3D-patterns in the fifth pereiopod of swimming and non-swimming crab species (Malacostraca, Decapoda, Brachyura).

ABSTRACT

Swimming crabs of the taxon Portunoidea show specialized, paddle-shaped fifth pereiopods (P5), which play a role in these crabs' ability to swim. In this study, the morphology of the fifth pereiopod in swimming and non-swimming crabs was studied in detail and the mobility in the articulations between podomeres was calculated from reconstructed three-dimensional (3D)-models. This way, we aimed to provide new estimates of kinematic parameters, and to answer the question on a possible homology of the P5 within several portunoid clades. We measured and compared podomere length ratios, orientations of the joint axes, and modeled single range of motion (sROM) of each joint as well as the total range of motion (tROM) of all joints of the P5 as a whole. Seven Portunoidea species, four of them belonging to the P5-swimming crab morphotype (Liocarcinus depurator, Polybius henslowii, Callinectes sapidus, Portunus pelagicus) and three not belonging to this morphotype (Carcinus aestuarii, Portumnus latipes, and with uncertain status Carupa tenuipes) were compared with the non-portunoids Sternodromia monodi, Ranina ranina, Raninoides bouvieri, Eriocheir sinensis, Varuna litterata, Ashtoret lunaris, and Cancer pagurus. The study was carried out using a combination of microcomputer tomography (µCT)-techniques and 3D-reconstructions. The µCT-data were used to create surface models of the P5 in Amira, which were then 3D-animated and manipulated in Maya to qualitatively compare modeled kinematic parameters. Results show that the merus and carpus in swimming crabs are shorter than in non-swimming crabs, while sROM angles are generally larger. The tROM of all joints expressed as Euclidean distances is generally higher in the portunoids (except for Carcinus). Our comparison of the complete trajectory of the dactylus tip regarding all maximum joint positions of the studied species suggests that the P5-swimming leg might have evolved once in the Portunoidea and got lost afterward in certain clades.