Larvae of the mud crab P. lacustris were reared in laboratory from ovigerous females collected in the estuarine area of the Caeté River in the Amazonian region. The complete development of this species consisted of 4 zoeal and 1 megalopal stages, where each stage was described and illustrated in detail. The results were compared with those of other previous studies on larval development of the species belonging to the genus Panopeus and then briefly discussed. Besides the description of the complete development larval of P. lacustris, has been described and illustrated the first stage zoea of thirteen species of brachyuran crabs collected in the same estuary: P. lacustris Desbonne, 1867, P. americanus Saussure, 1857, Eurytium limosum (Say, 1818), Sesarma curacaoense De Man, 1892, Sesarma rectum Randall, 1840, Armases rubripes (Rathbun, 1897), Aratus pisonii (H. Milne Edwards, 1837), Ocypode quadrata (Fabricius, 1787), Uca rapax (Smith, 1870), Uca maracoani (Latreille, 1802), Uca thayeri Rathbun, 1900, Ucides cordatus (Linnaeus, 1763) e Pachygrapsus gracilis (Saussure, 1858). Only the zoea I of P. lacustris was not described again. The morphological characteristics of these species are compared with the original descriptions. To make easy the study of plankton-collected material, it was developed a key to identification of the species described in this study.
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