Leptuca pugilator

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Leptuca pugilator
Uca pugilator and hole crop.jpg
Uca pugilator 1 - Pinckney Island.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Infraorder: Brachyura
Family: Ocypodidae
Subfamily: Gelasiminae
Tribe: Minucini
Genus: Leptuca
Species:
L. pugilator
Binomial name
Leptuca pugilator
(Bosc, 1802)

Leptuca pugilator, the sand fiddler crab, Atlantic sand fiddler crab, or Calico fiddler, is a species of fiddler crab that is found from Massachusetts to the Gulf of Mexico. It lives in burrows in coastal and estuarine mud-flats, and can be extremely abundant. It can be differentiated from the morphologically similar Minuca pugnax and Minuca minax by the smoothness of the inside of its claws. One claw is larger than the other, and can be much larger than the crab's body, at up to 41 mm (1.6 in) long.

Contents

Leptuca pugilator was formerly in the genus Uca , but in 2016 it became a member of the genus Leptuca , a former subgenus of Uca. [1] [2] [3]

Description

The carapace is square in shape, tapering slightly to the rear; it can reach a width of 25 millimetres (0.98 in), but is typically up to 21 mm (0.83 in) wide and 14 mm (0.55 in) long. [4] The space between the eyes is much shorter than the eyestalk. The males have one extremely enlarged chela (claw), which they use to claim their territory and fight with other males. The claw can be much larger than the body, at up to 35 mm (1.4 in) long, or exceptionally up to 41 mm (1.6 in) long. [4] It is common for males to lose claws in the battles. When this happens, the claw regenerates and the opposite side begins to enlarge. Fiddler crabs are right or left clawed. The inside of these claws are also very smooth, unlike its other close relatives Minuca pugnax and Minuca minax . [5]

Geographic distribution

Leptuca pugilator is one of only five species of fiddler crabs found primarily in temperate areas. [6] The species occurs on the east coast of North America and in the Gulf of Mexico, having been found as far north as Massachusetts and as far south as Texas and Florida. This species has also reportedly been found in the Bahamas. [7] They may also be found in the warmer waters of the Atlantic along the West coast of Africa.

Habitat

Leptuca pugilator can be found in estuarine and coastal areas or sheltered shores with sandy or muddy substrates. [6] It is frequently found in areas bordering marshes and along the banks of tidal streams. [7] It can be found in these areas in large numbers – thousands to millions. [6]

Related Research Articles

Fiddler crab Genus of crustaceans

A fiddler crab, sometimes known as a calling crab, may be any of more than one hundred species of semiterrestrial marine crabs in the family Ocypodidae. A smaller number of ghost crab and mangrove crab species are also found in the family Ocypodidae. This entire group is composed of small crabs, the largest being slightly over two inches (5 cm) across. Fiddler crabs are found along sea beaches and brackish intertidal mud flats, lagoons and swamps. Fiddler crabs are most well known for their sexually dimorphic claws; the males' major claw is much larger than the minor claw, while the females' claws are both the same size.

Ocypodidae Family of crabs

The Ocypodidae are a family of semiterrestrial crabs that includes the ghost crabs and fiddler crabs. They are found on tropical and temperate shorelines around the world.

<i>Minuca pugnax</i> Species of crab

Minuca pugnax, commonly known as the Atlantic marsh fiddler crab, is a species of fiddler crab that lives on north-western shores of the Atlantic Ocean.

<i>Austruca mjoebergi</i> Species of crab

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.

<i>Minuca minax</i> Species of crab

Minuca minax, commonly known as the red‐jointed fiddler crab or brackish-water fiddler crab, is a species of fiddler crab that is found in the United States from Massachusetts to the Gulf of Mexico. It is one of the most common macroinvertebrates in salt marshes in these states. It prefers areas of lower salinity than other fiddler crabs, and can be found in great numbers along the banks of tidal streams, even at distances greater than 50 km (31 mi) from the sea.

<i>Leptuca</i>

Leptuca is a genus of fiddler crabs belonging to the family Ocypodidae.

Leptuca spinicarpa, commonly known as the spiny-wristed fiddler crab or the spined fiddler crab, is a species of fiddler crab native to coastal habitats along the Gulf of Mexico from northwestern Florida to Mexico.

Gelasiminae is a subfamily that pertains to nine out of the eleven fiddler crab genera within the family Ocypodidae.

<i>Leptuca panacea</i> Species of crab

Leptuca panacea, commonly known as the Gulf sand fiddler crab or the Panacea sand fiddler, is a species of fiddler crab native to coastal habitats along the Gulf of Mexico from northwestern Florida to Mexico.

Leptuca speciosa, commonly known as the brilliant fiddler crab or the longfinger fiddler crab, is a species of fiddler crab native to the southern United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

Leptuca subcylindrica, commonly known as the Laguna Madre fiddler crab or the puffed fiddler crab, is a sparsely-studied species of fiddler crab native to southern Texas and northeastern Mexico in the Gulf of Mexico.

Leptuca leptodactyla, commonly known as the thin-fingered fiddler crab or the western Atlantic fiddler crab, is a species of fiddler crab native to the western Atlantic coast of the Americas.

Leptuca cumulanta, commonly known as the heaping fiddler crab or the mangrove fiddler crab, is a species of fiddler crab native to tropical and subtropical areas of the western Atlantic.

Leptuca uruguayensis, commonly known as the Uruguayan fiddler crab or the southwestern Atlantic fiddler crab, is a species of fiddler crab native to temperate and subtropical areas of the southeastern coast of South America.

Leptuca beebei, commonly known as Beebe's fiddler crab, is a species of fiddler crab native to the Pacific coasts of Central and South America, from El Salvador to northern Peru.

Leptuca saltitanta, commonly known as the energetic fiddler crab, is a species of fiddler crab native to the eastern Pacific coasts, from El Salvador in Central America to Colombia in South America.

Leptuca helleri, commonly known as Heller's fiddler crab, is a species of fiddler crab endemic to the Galapagos Islands in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

Leptuca deichmanni, commonly known as Deichmann's fiddler crab, is a species of fiddler crab native to the eastern Pacific coast of Central America, in Costa Rica and Panama.

Leptuca musica, commonly known as the musical fiddler crab, is a species of fiddler crab native to Baja California and the Gulf of California in Mexico.

Leptuca terpsichores, commonly known as the dancing fiddler crab, is a species of fiddler crab native to the eastern Pacific coast of the Americas, from Nicaragua to Peru.

References

  1. Shih, Hsi-Te; Ng, Peter K. L.; Davie, Peter J. F.; Schubart, Christoph D.; et al. (2016). "Systematics of the family Ocypodidae Rafinesque, 1815 (Crustacea: Brachyura), based on phylogenetic relationships, with a reorganization of subfamily rankings and a review of the taxonomic status of Uca Leach, 1814, sensu lato and its subgenera". The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 64.
  2. Rosenberg, Michael S. (2019). "A fresh look at the biodiversity lexicon for fiddler crabs (Decapoda: Brachyura: Ocypodidae). Part 1: Taxonomy". Journal of Crustacean Biology. 39 (6).
  3. "WoRMS taxon details, Leptuca Bott, 1973". World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
  4. 1 2 L. H. Sweat (August 17, 2009). "Uca pugilator, Atlantic Sand Fiddler Crab". Indian River Lagoon Species Inventory. Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce. Retrieved September 11, 2012.
  5. Kenneth L. Gosner (1978). Petersons Field Guides: Atlantic Seashore . Houghton Mifflin. ISBN   978-0-395-31828-7.
  6. 1 2 3 Jocelyn Crane (1975). Fiddler crabs of the world . Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp.  736. ISBN   978-0-691-08102-1.
  7. 1 2 Austin B. Williams (1984). Shrimps, lobsters, and crabs of the Atlantic coast of the eastern United States, Maine to Florida. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 550. ISBN   0-87474-960-3.