5 day, 1.5%); (B) PI3K Inhibitor Library manufacturer the late postmoult (1.5 days, 4.5%); (C) the intermoult (13 days, 44%); (D) the premoult (15 days, 50%), which is subdivided in four periods based on the genesis of the dactylian

claw and the setae of the propodite; and finally (E) the exuviation. The relative durations of stages match those observed for crustaceans with short moulting cycles. The main features of the different stages are described below (Fig. 2). The early postmoult period (A) is 12 h long. The cuticle is thin, soft and sticky (Fig. 2a) because the exuvial fluid persists at the cuticular surface. The epidermis is tight to the new cuticle. The animal has little colour. In the late postmoult period (B; Fig. 2b), the new exoskeleton

is forming and the cuticle begins to harden, essentially by calcification. The intermoult stage is almost half the moulting cycle (Fig. 2c). The integument thickens (lower arrows Fig. 2a–d) and acquires definitive characteristics (colour, thickness, rigidity). In gammarids (and other crustacean species with weak skeleton calcification), no specific criterion defines the boundary between B and C. This boundary depends on the valuation of the progressive thickening of cuticle. Here, we arbitrarily subdivided the stage C in early and late intermoult to account for the thickness Cobimetinib chemical structure and the hardening (concomitant processes) of the tegument. The premoult is characterized by the apolysis, that is, the progressive

separation of the epidermis from the old cuticle, simultaneously with the beginning of the secretion of the new skeleton. Premoult can be subdivided in four phases. In the first stage in early premoult D0, the claw epidermis begins to separate from the cuticle, gradually from the distal end of the dactylian claw (upper arrows, Fig. 2d) to the more proximal regions of the propodite. Simultaneously, the setae epidermis withdraws from the old skeleton. Tissue retraction continues in the D1 stage (intermediate premoult) and is now visible in the propodite region. This stage is mainly characterized by the genesis of 上海皓元 new setae. Invaginations appear around the matrix of the claw (left arrows, Fig. 2e) and setae. The secretion of the cuticle of the new claw continues; its cuticle becomes thicker and begins to refract, this refractiveness being accentuated at the end of the D1 stage (Fig. 2f). At the end of D1 and during the D2 stage (late premoult), the retraction of the new cuticle is maximal (Fig. 2g) and the thickness of the newly synthesized cuticle increases. This is particularly well visible at the level of the dactylopodite; here, the cuticle is around 1/5 thickness of the old one at the end of the stage. The setae are clearly formed (arrows, Fig. 2g). At the latter premoult stage (D3), which is about 2 days, the main part of the new skeleton is synthesized (Fig. 2h) and the animal prepares to exuviate.