Huntsman spiders, members of the family Sparassidae, catch their prey by hunting rather than in webs. They are also called giant crab spiders because of their size and appearance. Larger species sometimes are referred to as wood spiders, because of their preference for woody places. In southern Africa the genus Palystes are known as rain spiders or lizard-eating spiders. Commonly, they are confused with baboon spiders from the Mygalomorphae infraorder, which are not closely related.
Ocypode is a genus of ghost crabs found in the sandy shores of tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world. They have a box-like body, thick and elongated eyestalks, and one claw is larger than the other in both males and females. They inhabit deep burrows in the intertidal zone. They are primarily nocturnal, and are generalist scavengers and predators of small animals. The genus contains 21 species.
The giant grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus), also known as the Queensland groper (grouper), brindle grouper or mottled-brown sea bass, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a grouper from the subfamily Epinephelinae which is part of the family Serranidae, which also includes the anthias and sea basses. It has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution and is one of the largest extant species of bony fish.
The Namoi River snapping turtle, also commonly known as Bell's turtle, the Namoi River elseya, or Bell's saw-shelled turtle, is a species of turtle in the family Chelidae. The species is endemic to New South Wales, Australia.
Austruca mjoebergi is a species of fiddler crab discovered by and named after the Swedish zoologist Eric Mjöberg (1882–1938), member of a Swedish scientific expedition to Australia in the early 1900s.
Austruca perplexa is a species of fiddler crab. It is found from the Ryukyu Islands, Japan to India, throughout the Malay Archipelago, along eastern Australian coasts from Queensland to New South Wales, and in various Pacific islands, including Fiji, Tonga and Vanuatu.
Heloecius cordiformis is a species of semiterrestrial crab found in mangrove swamps and mudflats along the east coast of Australia. Adults are around 25 mm (1 in) wide, with males being larger and having larger and more conspicuously coloured claws. The males wave their claws to communicate with other crabs, giving them their common name of semaphore crab. They can breathe both in air and under water, and feed at low tide on detritus in the sediment. H. cordiformis is the only species in the genus Heloecius and the family Heloeciidae.
Mictyris longicarpus, the light-blue soldier crab, is a species of crab that lives on sandy beaches from the Bay of Bengal to Australia; with other members of the genus Mictyris, it is "one of the most loved crabs in Australia". Adults are 25 mm (1 in) across, white, with blue on their backs, and hold their claws vertically. They feed on detritus in the sand, leaving rounded pellets of discarded sand behind them. The males may form into large "armies" which traverse the beach at low tide, before the crabs dig into the sand to wait for the next low tide.
Tumidodromia dormia, the sleepy sponge crab or common sponge crab, is the largest species of sponge crab and the only species in the genus Tumidodromia. It grows to a carapace width of 20 cm (8 in) and lives in shallow waters across the Indo-Pacific region.
Gelasimus vomeris is a species of fiddler crab found in the southwest Pacific Ocean. In Australia, it is found in the east and north from Darwin to Sydney.
Pseudohelice subquadrata is a species of crab in the family Varunidae. It is found from the eastern Indian Ocean to the western Pacific Ocean, north to Japan, south to Eastern Australia, east to French Polynesia, west to Indonesia and Thailand. It lives near mangroves, burrowing in firm soils, firm muddy sand or loose stones. Burrows are towards or above the high tide line on shores of estuaries and near river mouths of bays, and can have offshoots horizontal beneath the surface as long as three metres.
Helopgrapsus haswellianus or Haswell’s shore crab, is the sole species of crab in the genus Helograpsus. It lives in river mouths and bays on the eastern coast of Australia. The carapace is strongly convex with one distinct notch behind the eye. Adult males have larger claws than adult females. The carapace is olive, dark slate grey or reddish. Claws of adult males are orange-yellow. Carapace size is up to 30 mm wide. The orange color is stronger when these crabs live in habitat with lower pollution levels.
Paragrapsus laevis is a species of crab found in south eastern Australia, from southern Queensland to around the South Australian border, including Tasmania.
Davusia glabra, commonly called the shiny bait crab, Sowrie crab or Sourie crab is the sole species of crab in the genus Davusia. It lives around the low tide area on rocky ocean shores on the eastern coast of Australia, in crevices and rock pools and on rock platforms. Its distribution is stated differently in different sources; some have described the crab's habitat as from Queensland to as far south as the NSW-Victorian border, while others have stated it can be found as far south as Wilson's Promontory. Its carapace is grey to fawn-colored with very small green spots, resulting in Davusia glabra having a greenish appearance. The width of the carapace is around 30-40 mm across and is smooth without hair, slightly wider than long, with 3 distinct spines at each edge.
Macrophthalmus pacificus is a species of sentinel crab found widely across the Indo-West Pacific Ocean, including India, Japan, Malaysia, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and northern Australia.
Tubuca polita, commonly known as the polished fiddler crab. or pink-clawed fiddler crab is a species of fiddler crab that is found in the northern part of Australia including the Torres Strait Islands
Macrophthalmus crassipes is a species of sentinel crab in the family Macrophthalmidae, found around China, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, and the Caroline Islands. In Australia it is found from north Western Australia through to New South Wales. Common names include the seagrass sentinel crab and the orange spined sentinel crab. On adult males there is a substantial tooth on the lower claw and a much smaller tooth on the upper claw, and noticeable orange spines on the “wrist” (carpus) of the clawed leg and on the palm of the clawed leg. The carapace is covered in small granules, and is up to around 37 mm (1.5 in) across. It is a burrowing crab, and lives in open tidal flats, muddy or with sandy mud, low on tidal creek banks, and adjacent mangroves.
Tubuca coarctata is a species of fiddler crab found in the western Pacific ocean, including Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea and Australia. The common name of these crabs is either the compressed fiddler crab, or the orange-clawed fiddler crab,. They are found on tidal mud flats adjacent mangroves and muddy tidal creek and river banks.
Tubuca dussumieri, is a species of fiddler crab that is found in the western and south pacific including New Caledonia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, north eastern Australia
Tubuca signata, the signalling fiddler crab, is a species of fiddler crab that is found in Australia from Queensland to northwestern Australia.
