Xanthidae is a family of crabs known as gorilla crabs, mud crabs, pebble crabs or rubble crabs. Xanthid crabs are often brightly coloured and are highly poisonous, containing toxins which are not destroyed by cooking and for which no antidote is known. The toxins are similar to the tetrodotoxin and saxitoxin produced by puffer fish, and may be produced by bacteria in the genus Vibrio living in symbiosis with the crabs, mostly V. alginolyticus and V. parahaemolyticus.
The Diogenidae are a family of hermit crabs, sometimes known as "left-handed hermit crabs" because in contrast to most other hermit crabs, its left chela (claw) is enlarged instead of the right. It comprises 429 extant species, and a further 46 extinct species, making it the second-largest family of marine hermit crabs, after the Paguridae.
Macrophthalmus is a genus of crabs which are widespread across the Indo-Pacific. It contains the following species : Species in this genus are often referred to as sentinel crabs.
Charybdis is a genus of swimming crabs in the family Portunidae. It is named after the monster Charybdis of Greek mythology.
Petrolisthes is a genus of marine porcelain crabs, containing these extant species:
The Paguridae are a family of hermit crabs of the order Decapoda. The king crabs, Lithodidae, are now widely understood to be derived from deep within the Paguridae, with some authors placing their ancestors within the genus Pagurus.
Pagurus is a genus of hermit crabs in the family Paguridae. Like other hermit crabs, their abdomen is not calcified and they use snail shells as protection. These marine decapod crustaceans are omnivorous, but mostly prey on small animals and scavenge carrion. Trigonocheirus and Pagurixus used to be considered subgenera of Pagurus, but the former is nowadays included in Orthopagurus, while the latter has been separated as a distinct genus.
Calcinus is a genus of hermit crabs in the family Diogenidae, containing the following species:
The Varunidae are a family of thoracotrematan crabs. The delimitation of this family, part of the taxonomically confusing Grapsoidea, is undergoing revision. For a long time, they were placed at the rank of subfamily in the Grapsidae, but they appear to be closest to Macropthalmus and the Mictyridae, which are usually placed in the Ocypodoidea. It may thus be better to merge the latter superfamily with the Grapsoidea, retaining the latter name as it is older.
Paguristes is a genus of hermit crab in the family Diogenidae. It includes the following species :
Dardanus is a genus of hermit crabs belonging to the Diogenidae family.
Diogenes is a genus of hermit crabs.
Dardanus megistos, the white-spotted hermit crab or spotted hermit crab, is a species of hermit crab belonging to the family Diogenidae.
Clibanarius fonticola is a species of hermit crab from Vanuatu. It lives exclusively in fresh water, the only hermit crab in the world to do so. While a number of other hermit crabs are terrestrial or live in estuarine habitats, and certain brackish water species can tolerate low salinity levels for a time, no other hermit crab spends its entire life in fresh water; the only other fully freshwater anomurans are the South American aeglids.
Actaea is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae, containing the following species:
Pilumnus is a genus of crabs, containing the following species:
Cancellus is a genus of hermit crabs in the family Diogenidae. Members of this genus are most commonly found living in small crevices in the outer continental shelf at mesophotic depths. They can be found living in rocks, sponges, and algae among other places. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution. Four species are known from the western Atlantic.
Pseudopaguristes is a genus of hermit crabs in the family Diogenidae.
Aniculus is a genus of aquatic hermit crab of the family Diogenidae.
