Jamieson, B.G.M. and Tudge, C.C. 1990b. Dorippids are Heterotremata: evidence from ultrastructure of the spermatozoa of Neodorippe astuta (Dorippidae) and Portunus pelagicus (Portunidae) Brachyura: Decapoda. Marine Biology 106, 347-354.
Ultrastructural comparison between the sperm of the dorippid crab Neodorippe astuta (Fabricius, 1793) and the portunid Portunus pelagicus (Linnaeus, 1766) from Queensland, Australia, supports placement of dorippids with portunids and their relatives in the heterotreme section of the Eubrachyura (the Heterotremata - Thoracotremata or the Oxyrhyncha - Cancridea - Brachygnatha assemblage) and not with Ranina ranina (in the Archaeobrachyura or the Oxystomata). Similarities between spermatozoa  of N. astuta and of P. pelagicus (and other Eubrachyura) and R. ranina include: the large spherical, multi-layered, capsule-bound acrosome vesicle; the electron-dense operculum capping the vesicle; an invaginated core, or perforatorium; concentric zonation of the contents of the vesicle; a layer of cytoplasm, between the acrosome vesicle and the nucleus, which contains mitochondria (mostly degenerating) and lattice-like lamellar complexes or membrane remnants; a diffuse nucleus which is bounded externally by a combined nuclear and plasma membrane and cups the scanty cytoplasm and the large acrosome vesicle; and lateral arms into which the chromatin extends. Characteristic eubrachyuran features of the N. astuta sperm absent from R. ranina are the long perforatorium (short and conical with a unique subacrosomal chamber in R. ranina) extending almost to the operculum; presence in the perforatorium of longitudinally arranged convulated tubules; a zone of acrosomal rays  forming the outer part of an inner dense zone; the presence of a thickened ring surrounding the basal part of the perforatorium; and, basally, two centrioles (absent from R. ranina but also from some eubrachyurans). The sperm of N. astuta is more similar to that of P. pelagicus than to that of other investigated Brachyura. A heterotreme status of N. astuta is thus unequivocally supported. Both species lack the posterior median process seen in the nucleus of majids and R. ranina.