Contributions to Zoology, 86 (3) 213-227 (2017) A possible 150 million years old cirripede crustacean nauplius and the phenomenon of giant larvae Christina Nagler1, 4, Jens T. Høeg2, Carolin Haug1, 3, Joachim T. Haug1, 3 1 Department of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Großhaderner Straße 2, 82152 Planegg- Martinsried, Germany 2 Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark 3 GeoBio-Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Richard-Wagner-Straße 10, 80333 Munich, Germany 4 E-mail:
[email protected] Key words: nauplius, metamorphosis, palaeo-evo-devo, Cirripedia, Solnhofen lithographic limestones Abstract The possible function of giant larvae ................................ 222 Interpretation of the present case ....................................... 223 The larval phase of metazoans can be interpreted as a discrete Acknowledgements ....................................................................... 223 post-embryonic period. Larvae have been usually considered to References ...................................................................................... 223 be small, yet some metazoans possess unusually large larvae, or giant larvae. Here, we report a possible case of such a giant larva from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Lithographic limestones (150 Introduction million years old, southern Germany), most likely representing an immature cirripede crustacean (barnacles and their relatives). The single specimen was documented with up-to-date