manca

{{for|the village in Turkey|Manca, Karamanlı}}

{{wikt}}

The manca (plural: mancae) is the post-larval juvenile in some crustaceans. The term is derived from Latin mancus, meaning "defective, imperfect."{{Cite web|url=https://lsj.gr/wiki/mancus|title=mancus - Ancient Greek (LSJ)}} The manca stage is the defining characteristic of a clade called Mancoida which comprises all the members of the Peracarida except the Mysidacea and the Amphipoda.{{cite book |author=Peter Ax |year=2000 |title=The Phylogenetic System of the Metazoa |series=Multicellular Animals |volume=2 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-540-67406-1 |chapter=Peracarida |pages=174–178 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FweHI7uZ198C&pg=PA176}} Mancae closely resemble the adult form, but for the absence of the last pair of pereiopods. In some isopods, specifically the family Gnathiidae, the manca stage is a parasite of fish, and is also known as the praniza.{{cite book |author=Albert O. Bush |year=2001 |title=Parasitism: the Diversity and Ecology of Animal Parasites |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-66447-9 |chapter=Crustacea |pages=226–241 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q6Kl0FbvStoC&pg=PA235}}