95% of animals expressing RacGAP84C^Scer\UAS.cRa under the control of Scer\GAL4^GMR.PU die as black pupae. Adult escapers have rough and reduced eyes with a glossy surface and a black patch at the anterior. Retinal thickness is reduced and a decreased number of misshapen ommatidia are randomly dispersed in a vacuolated matrix. Fused and mis-oriented photoreceptor cells are seen.

Embryos expressing high levels of RacGAP84C^Scer\UAS.cRa under the control of Scer\GAL4^ptc-559.1 have cuticles consisting of only a residue of the two unfused lateral epidermis sheets and the ventral epidermis is completely missing. Embryos expressing lower levels of RacGAP84C^Scer\UAS.cRa under the control of Scer\GAL4^ptc-559.1 show less severe defects, having an "anterior open" phenotype resulting from defective dorsal closure and lack of head involution. Small ventral holes are often also seen in these embryos. Embryos expressing RacGAP84C^Scer\UAS.cRa under the control of Scer\GAL4^LE have an anterior open phenotype. These embryos show about 6% lethality. Embryos expressing RacGAP84C^Scer\UAS.cRa under the control of Scer\GAL4^pnr-MD237 or Scer\GAL4^69B have dorsal closure defects. In stage 13 embryos expressing RacGAP84C^Scer\UAS.cRa under the control of Scer\GAL4^ptc-559.1 most of the cells along the dorsal midline remain polygonal while some cells either widen or pinch together, individually or in groups of 2 or 3 (in contrast to wild type where cells are columnar in shape). Defects in the actin cytoskeleton are also seen in these cells.