Lybia

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Lybia
Temporal range: Early Middle Miocene-Present, [1] 15.98–0  Ma
Lybia edmondsoni 2.jpg
Hawaiian pompom crab, Lybia edmondsoni
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Infraorder: Brachyura
Family: Xanthidae
Subfamily: Polydectinae
Genus: Lybia
H. Milne-Edwards, 1834  [2]
Type species
Grapse tessellata
Latreille in Milbert, 1812  [3]

Lybia is a genus of small crabs in the family Xanthidae. Their common names include boxer crabs, boxing crabs and pom-pom crabs. They are notable for their mutualism with sea anemones, [4] which they hold in their claws for defense. In return, the anemones get carried around, which may enable them to capture more food particles with their tentacles. Boxer crabs use at least three species of anemones, including Bundeopsis spp. and Triactis producta .

Contents

Taxonomy

Lybia was first classified as a genus by Henri Milne-Edwards in 1834, with Grapse tessellata (later changed to Lybia tessellata ) as the type species. [5]

The number of species within Lybia may be contentious. [4] Previously, ten species were documented; two have moved genuses and others may not be adequately defined. The species Tunebia hatagumoana and Tunebia tutelenia, once part of Lybia, now form the genus Tunebia [3] [6] . Additionally, it has been suggested that Lybia leptochelis and Lybia pugil may be synonyms due to their morphological similarities. [6] These ten species, with the addition of the teddy bear crab ( Polydectus cupulifer ) of another genus, form the subfamily Polydectinae. [4]

The genus Lybia currently contains eight documented species:
Species [3] [5] ImageKnown Distribution [4] [7]
Lybia australiensis (Ward, 1933)None available.Australia
Lybia caestifera (Alcock, 1898)None available.China, Indian Ocean, Indonesia, Pacific Ocean, Papua New Guinea
Lybia denticulata Nobili, 1906 Lybia denticulata (MNHN-IU-2014-22683) 003.jpeg Red Sea
Lybia edmondsoni Takeda & Miyake, 1970 Museum specimen of Lybia edmondsoni.jpg Hawaii (endemic) [8]
Lybia leptochelis (Zehntner, 1894) Lybia leptochelis with collected Alicia sp. anemones.png Red Sea, Fiji, Pacific Ocean, Indonesia
Lybia plumosa Barnard, 1947None available.South Africa, Indo-Pacific (broad oceanic range)
Lybia pugil (Alcock, 1898)None available.Australia, Indo-Pacific (broad oceanic range)
Lybia tessellata (Latreille in Milbert, 1812) Mosaic Boxer crab (Lybia tessellata) with eggs and only one boxing glove. (16057998770).jpg East Africa, Red Sea, Indonesia, Australia, Indo-Pacific (broad oceanic range)

Using mitochondrial genomics, it has been estimated that the anemone-holding habits of Lybia's subfamily Polydectinae likely evolved during the Eocene 43 million years ago. [4] However, a paleontology study examining the fauna assemblages in the Indo-West Pacific has estimated that the genus Lybia did not arise until much later during the early Middle Miocene 16-15 million years ago [1]

References

  1. 1 2 Karasawa, H. (1993). "Cenozoic decapod Crustacea from southwest Japan". Bulletin of the Mizunami Fossil Museum. 20: 1–92.
  2. ↑ "Lybia H. Milne Edwards, 1834". Integrated Taxonomic Information System . Retrieved March 1, 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 Ng, Peter K. L.; Guinot, Danièle; Davie, Peter J. F. (January 2008). "Systema Brachyurorum: Part I. An Annotated Checklist of Extant Brachyuran Crabs of the World". The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 17: 1–286. Retrieved 8 June 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Gries, Lennart; Paule, Juraj; Sonnewald, Moritz; Nilsson, Maria A (2024-02-01). "Eocene origin of anemone-carrying behaviour in polydectine crabs (Brachyura: Xanthidae)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 200 (2): 352–359. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad075. ISSN   0024-4082.
  5. 1 2 Boyko, Christopher B, ed. (27 August 2022). "Lybia H. Milne Edwards, 1834". WoRMS. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  6. 1 2 Mendoza, Jose Christopher E; NG, Peter K L (2011). "The Polydectinae Dana, 1851, of the Philippines, with description of a new genus for Lybia hatagumoana Sakai, 1961 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Xanthidae)". Zootaxa. 3052: 51–61. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3052.1.2 . Retrieved 3 March 2025.
  7. ↑ "Lybia H.Milne Edwards, 1834". GBIF Backbone Taxonomy (Dataset). 2023. doi:10.15468/39omei . Retrieved 2025-02-24.
  8. ↑ Karplus; Fiedler, GC; Ramcharan, P (1998). "The Intraspecific Fighting Behavior of the Hawaiian Boxer Crab, Lybia edmondsoni - Fighting with Dangerous Weapons?". Symbiosis. 24 (3): 287–302. Retrieved 27 February 2025.


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