Tudge, C.C., Scheltinga, D.M. and Jamieson, B.G.M. 1999c. Spermatozoal ultrastructure in the Hippoidea (Anomura, Decapoda). Journal of Submicroscopic Cytology and Pathology 31, 1-13.
Three species of anomuran mole and sand crabs (Albunea sp., Emerita talpoida and Hippo pacifica) in the superfamily Hippoidea are investigated for spermatozoal ultrastructure. Each species has a different spermatozoal morphology but shares, with the others, three apomorphies - a thickened, multi-layered operculum, a perforatorial septum, and a central acrosome zone. The spermatozoa of A. sp. (family Albuneidae) possess numerous perforatorial spikes which emanate from the anterior of the perforatorium and contain electron-dense tubes of longitudinally aligned granules. These densely filled perforatorial spikes are not found in the other species, E. talpoida and H. pacifica, from the family Hippidae. The spermatozoa of E. talpoida are distinct in having an elongate acrosome vesicle, a four chambered perforatorium and a conical operculum. All three taxa share significant spermatozoal characters which unite them, but their relationships to other investigated anomuran crabs is still unknown.