During the first years of my undergraduate study I developed great interest in ecology, morphology and evolution, especially of arthropods. This interest led to a research internship, in which I am currently working on the larval development of mantis shrimps (stomatopods).

Stomatopod larvae are not only ecologically relevant as representatives of the micro- and makroplankton, but also show many characters, which are unique among crustaceans. I am documenting these characters for the first time with modern imaging techniques, such as fluorescence microscopy.

Furthermore, I am trying to interpret these characters in an evolutionary and developmental context. With this, I aim at reconstructing evolutionary scenarios for the larval development in these animals.

Publications:

Haug, C., Ahyong, S. T., Wiethase, J. H., Olesen, J. & Haug, J. T. 2016. Extreme morphologies of mantis shrimp larvae. Nauplius 24, e2016020. Free access PDF

Haug, C., Wiethase, J. H. & Haug, J. T. 2015. New records of Mesozoic mantis shrimp larvae and their implications on modern larval traits in stomatopods. Palaeodiversity 8, 121–133. Free access PDF

Conference contributions:

Wiethase, J., Haug, J. T., Haug, C. 2015. Disparität der Larventypen in Stomatopoden– rezent und fossil. Crustaceologentagung, Bremerhaven (Poster).

Wittfoth, C., Sombke, A., Wiethase, J., Lipke, E. & Wolff, C. 2015. Brain anatomy of the amphipod Parhyale hawaiensis (Dana, 1853). Crustaceologentagung, Bremerhaven (Poster).

Wiethase, J., Haug, J. T., Haug, C. 2014. Disparity of larval types of stomatopods – today and in the past. International Crustacean Congress, Frankfurt (Poster).

Wiethase, J., Haug, J. T., Haug, C. 2014. Developmental pattern in mantis shrimps – today and in the past. 5th meeting of the European Society for Evolutionary Developmental Biology (EED), Vienna (Poster).