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Although Parthenopidae is a brachyuran decapod family comprising almost 140 species, there is little knowledge about its larval morphology. There are only two complete larval developments reared in the laboratory and some larval stages described for seven species. In the present work these data are compared and analysed. A summary is made of the larval features that characterize parthenopids that can be used to distinguish them from other brachyuran larvae. In addition, the megalopa stage of Derilambrus angulifrons and Parthenopoides massena was collected from plankton and identified by DNA barcodes. The morphology of the megalopa of D. angulifrons is described for the first time, and that of P. massena is compared with a previous description., The research was carried out within the framework of the projects MEGALOPADN (CGL2009-11225) and ‘Transporte y reclutamiento larvario de crustáceos bentónicos litorales: importancia de los agentes forzadores costeros y regimen mareal’ (CTM2005- 00024/MAR), both co-financed by the ‘Ministerio de Economía y Competividad (MINECO)’ Spanish Plan R + D + I and FEDER. Elena Marco-Herrero acknowledges the pre-doctoral FPI Fellowships supported by MINECO (BES-2010-033297 and EEBB-I-13-07501).