Echinoecus pentagonus

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Echinoecus pentagonus
Echinoecus pentagonus (MNHN-IU-2014-7155) 003.jpeg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Infraorder: Brachyura
Family: Pilumnidae
Genus: Echinoecus
Species:
E. pentagonus
Binomial name
Echinoecus pentagonus

Echinoecus pentagonus, the sea urchin crab, is a species of crab in the family Pilumnidae found from the Red Sea and East Africa to French Polynesia and the Hawaiian Islands. [2] This crab is a parasite that lives in the rectum of a sea urchin. In Hawaii, it chooses only Echinothrix calamaris , leaving few of these urchins unpopulated. Its curved and pointed carapace reaches only 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) in width. [3]

Taxonomic synonyms of E. pentagonus include: [4]

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References

  1. Sammy De Grave; N. Dean Pentcheff; Shane T. Ahyong; et al. (2009). "A classification of living and fossil genera of decapod crustaceans" (PDF). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology . Suppl. 21: 138. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-06.
  2. "Echinoecus pentagonus (Milne-Edwards, 1879)". SeaLifeBase . Retrieved December 22, 2010.
  3. John P. Hoover (2007). Hawaiian Sea Creatures. Mutual Publishing. ISBN   1-56647-220-2.
  4. P. Davie (2010). "Echinoecus pentagonus". World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved December 22, 2010.