Cardisoma

Cardisoma
Cardisoma carnifex
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Malacostraca
Order:	Decapoda
Suborder:	Pleocyemata
Infraorder:	Brachyura
Family:	Gecarcinidae
Genus:	Cardisoma Latreille, 1828
Type species
Cardisoma guanhumi Latreille, 1828

Cardisoma is a genus of large land crabs. Three species formerly placed in this genus are now placed in Discoplax . ^[1] The four species that remain in Cardisoma are found in warm coastal regions where they live in burrows. Young individuals are often very colourful with a purple-blue carapace and orange-red legs (leading to a level of popularity in the pet trade), but as they grow older the colours tend to fade, and females may be duller than males. Although less extreme than in fiddler crabs, one claw is usually considerably larger than the other. ^[2] They are omnivores, but primarily feed on plant material. ^[3]

Species

The genus Cardisoma comprises these four species: ^{[1] [4]}

Image	Name	Common name	Distribution
	Cardisoma armatum Herklots, 1851	(African) rainbow crab, (Nigerian) moon crab or patriot crab	east Atlantic coastal regions
	Cardisoma carnifex (Herbst, 1794)	red-claw crab	Indo-Pacific coastal regions
	Cardisoma crassum Smith, 1870	mouthless crab	east Pacific coastal regions
	Cardisoma guanhumi Latreille, 1825	blue land crab or giant land crab	west Atlantic coastal regions
	† Cardisoma planum Rathbun, 1945

See also

• Tuerkayana – a genus which holds crabs formerly found in Discoplax and Cardisoma ^[5]

References

1. Peter K. L. Ng; Danièle Guinot & Peter J. F. Davie (2008). "Systema Brachyurorum: Part I. An annotated checklist of extant Brachyuran crabs of the world" (PDF). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology . 17: 1–286. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-06.
2. Mariappan, Pitchaimuthu; Balasundaram, Chellam; Schmitz, Barbara (September 2000). "Decapod crustacean chelipeds: an overview". Journal of Biosciences. 25 (3). Indian Academy of Sciences: 301–313. doi:10.1007/BF02703939. ISSN   0250-5991. PMID   11022233. S2CID   21474481.
3. Donald B. Bright & Charles L. Hogue (1972). "A synopsis of burrowing land crabs of the world and list of their arthropod symbionts and burrow associates" (PDF). Contributions in Science . 220: 1–58. doi:10.5962/p.241205. S2CID   92490593. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-10-09.
4. De Grave, Sammy (23 September 2024). "Cardisoma Latreille in Latreille, Le Peletier, Serville & Guérin, 1828". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 13 March 2025.
5. Guinot, Danièle; Ng, Ngan Kee; Rodríguez Moreno, Paula A. (21 December 2018). "Review of grapsoid families for the establishment of a new family for Leptograpsodes Montgomery, 1931, and a new genus of Gecarcinidae H. Milne Edwards, 1837 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura, Grapsoidea MacLeay, 1838)" (PDF). Zoosystema . 40 (sp1): 547–604. doi:10.5252/zoosystema2018v40a26. S2CID   92671389. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 February 2019.