Gecarcinidae | |
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Gecarcinus quadratus (Halloween crab) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Malacostraca |
Order: | Decapoda |
Suborder: | Pleocyemata |
Infraorder: | Brachyura |
Superfamily: | Grapsoidea |
Family: | Gecarcinidae MacLeay, 1838 [1] |
The Gecarcinidae, the land crabs, are a family of true crabs that are adapted for terrestrial existence. Similar to all other crabs, land crabs possess a series of gills. In addition, the part of the carapace covering the gills is inflated and equipped with blood vessels. These organs extract oxygen from the air, analogous to the vertebrate lungs. Adult land crabs are terrestrial, but visit the sea periodically, where they breed and their larvae develop. Land crabs are tropical omnivores which sometimes cause considerable damage to crops. Most land crabs have one of their claws larger than the other.
The family contains these genera: [1]
Mitochondrial genome sequencing indicates that members of the family ( Gecarcoidia natalis and Cardisoma carnifex ) are sister to the Sesarmidae. [3]
Mictyris is a genus of brightly coloured crabs, placed in its own taxonomical family, the Mictyridae. It inhabits the central Indo-West Pacific region. These crabs congregate on mud flats or beaches in groups of a few thousand, and filter sand or mud for microscopic organisms. They congregate during low tide, and bury themselves in the sand during high tide or whenever they are threatened. This is done in wet sand, and they dig in a corkscrew pattern, leaving many small round pellets of sand behind them.
Tuerkayana hirtipes is a species of terrestrial crab.
The Grapsoidea are a superfamily of crabs; they are well known and contain many taxa which are terrestrial (land-living), semiterrestrial, or limnic. Another well-known member with a more conventional lifestyle is the Chinese mitten crab, Eriocheir sinensis.
Discoplax is a genus of terrestrial crabs. It is very closely related to the genus Cardisoma.
Discoplax longipes is a species of terrestrial crab. It is found in karstic caves on Pacific islands and ranges from the Loyalty Islands to French Polynesia. Mating occurs in the caves, after which the females migrate to the sea to release their fertilised eggs. The genus Discoplax was for a long time synonymised with Cardisoma, but was resurrected in the late 20th century.
Cardisoma is a genus of large land crabs. Three species formerly placed in this genus are now placed in Discoplax. 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, 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. They are omnivores, but primarily feed on plant material.
The Sesarmidae are a family of crabs, previously included in the Grapsidae by many authors. Several species, namely in Geosesarma, Metopaulias, and Sesarma, are true terrestrial crabs. They do not need to return to the sea even for breeding.
Gecarcinus is the type genus of the land crab family Gecarcinidae. They are found in warmer coastal regions of the Americas, including islands in the Caribbean. Four species from oceanic islands were formerly included in Gecarcinus as the subgenus Johngarthia, but are now treated as a separate genus, Johngarthia. While all members of this genus are largely terrestrial, they have to return to the ocean to breed. They are often colourful, with reddish, orange, purple, yellowish, whitish, or blackish being the dominating hues. This has resulted in some species, notably G. quadratus and G. lateralis, gaining a level of popularity in the pet trade.
Johngarthia is a genus of crabs in the land crab family Gecarcinidae, formerly included in the genus Gecarcinus, and containing six species. The genus bears the name of John S. Garth, a 20th century naturalist who specialized in crabs and other arthropods.
Sesarma is a genus of terrestrial crabs endemic to the Americas.
Epigrapsus is genus of terrestrial crabs. The two species are omnivores.
Chiromantes haematocheir, commonly known as red-clawed crab, is a species of mudflat crab in the family Sesarmidae. It is endemic to East Asia and is quite distinct from the other species placed in the genus Chiromantes. The genus may be restricted to this one species.
Eubrachyura is a group of decapod crustaceans comprising the more derived crabs. It is divided into two subsections, based on the position of the genital openings in the two sexes. In the Heterotremata, the openings are on the legs in the males, but on the sternum in females, while in the Thoracotremata, the openings are on the sternum in both sexes. This contrasts with the situation in other decapods, in which the genital openings are always on the legs. Heterotremata is the larger of the two groups, containing the species-rich superfamilies Xanthoidea and Pilumnoidea and all the freshwater crabs. The eubrachyura is well known for actively and constantly building its own burrows. The fossil record of the Eubrachyura extends back to the Cretaceous; the supposed Bathonian representative of the group, Hebertides jurassica, ultimately turned out to be Cenozoic in age.
Gecarcinus ruricola is a species of terrestrial crab. It is the most terrestrial of the Caribbean land crabs, and is found from western Cuba across the Antilles as far east as Barbados. Common names for G. ruricola include the purple land crab, black land crab, red land crab, and zombie crab.
Karstarma is a genus of karst-dwelling crabs formerly included in Sesarmoides.
Geosesarma dennerle is a species of small land-living crabs found on Java, Indonesia.
Johngarthia planata is a bright orange species of land crab that lives on inshore islands and the continental mainland coast of the tropical and subtropical Pacific coast of the Americas, including the Gulf of California, Costa Rica, Colombia, and continental mainland beaches of Mexico. The crabs are omnivorous and feed on seaweed (algae), vegetation and sometimes carrion.
Tuerkayana is a genus of large land crabs. It was created from two members of the genus Cardisoma and two members of Discoplax in late 2018 after a re-examination of the taxonomy of the family Gecarcinidae. Said re-examination also resulted in the creation of the new family Leptograpsodidae for the genus Leptograpsodes.
Sesarmops is a genus of crabs in the family Sesarmidae. Its members are distributed through the Indo–West-Pacific oceanic region. They live in freshwater forest streams near the coast, and in mangroves.