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.
Sesarma is a genus of terrestrial crabs endemic to the Americas.
Parasesarma erythrodactyla, also known as the red-handed shore crab, is a burrowing crab inhabiting mangrove forests in Australia and Southeast Asia. It is immediately identifiable by its bright red chelipeds (claws) and green/brown carapace.
Austruca perplexa is a species of fiddler crab. It is found from the Ryukyu Islands, Japan to India, throughout the Malay Archipelago, along eastern Australian coasts from Queensland to New South Wales, and in various Pacific islands, including Fiji, Tonga and Vanuatu.
Heloecius cordiformis is a species of semiterrestrial crab found in mangrove swamps and mudflats along the east coast of Australia. Adults are around 25 mm (1 in) wide, with males being larger and having larger and more conspicuously coloured claws. The males wave their claws to communicate with other crabs, giving them their common name of semaphore crab. They can breathe both in air and under water, and feed at low tide on detritus in the sediment. H. cordiformis is the only species in the genus Heloecius and the family Heloeciidae.
Parasesarma leptosoma, also known as the arboreal crab, is an arboreal, leaf-eating mangrove crab, from East and South Africa where it is found on Rhizophora mucronata and Bruguiera gymnorhiza, but not on Avicennia marina. It occupies an ecological niche similar to that of another sesarmid, Aratus pisonii, from the Americas.
Perisesarma guttatum, the red-claw mangrove crab, is a crab species in the genus Perisesarma and the family Sesarmidae. It is distributed in coastal brackish water habitats of the western Indian Ocean.
Neosarmatium smithi, is a swimming crab species in the genus Neosarmatium. Distributed all over marine and brackish waters of Indo-West Pacific regions.
Armases cinereum, also known as the squareback marsh crab or wharf crab, is a species of crab in the family Sesarmidae. The wharf crab is a small crab that is dark brown to muddy in color, which allows it to blend in with its usual surroundings. It is found on the Atlantic southeastern coast, down into the Gulf of Mexico. It is an omnivore and is prevalent in marshy coastal environments along the Southwestern Atlantic.
Pseudohelice subquadrata is a species of crab in the family Varunidae. It is found from the eastern Indian Ocean to the western Pacific Ocean, north to Japan, south to Eastern Australia, east to French Polynesia, west to Indonesia and Thailand. It lives near mangroves, burrowing in firm soils, firm muddy sand or loose stones. Burrows are towards or above the high tide line on shores of estuaries and near river mouths of bays, and can have offshoots horizontal beneath the surface as long as three metres.
Paragrapsus laevis is a species of crab found in south eastern Australia, from southern Queensland to around the South Australian border, including Tasmania.
Macrophthalmus pacificus is a species of sentinel crab found widely across the Indo-West Pacific Ocean, including India, Japan, Malaysia, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and northern Australia.
Macrophthalmus setosus is a species of sentinel crab found on the east coast of Australia, from around Queensland to Sydney. Macrophthalmus setosus is found low down on muddy river and creek banks and in exposed sea grass areas in tidal zones, at times near mangroves. Males have a tooth on the upper claw (dactyl). The carapace is around 40 mm wide, and rectangular, greater than 1.7 times wide than long. Eye stalks are long and thin.
Tubuca polita, commonly known as the polished fiddler crab. or pink-clawed fiddler crab is a species of fiddler crab that is found in the northern part of Australia including the Torres Strait Islands
Macrophthalmus crassipes is a species of sentinel crab in the family Macrophthalmidae, found around China, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, and the Caroline Islands. In Australia it is found from north Western Australia through to New South Wales. Common names include the seagrass sentinel crab and the orange spined sentinel crab. On adult males there is a substantial tooth on the lower claw and a much smaller tooth on the upper claw, and noticeable orange spines on the “wrist” (carpus) of the clawed leg and on the palm of the clawed leg. The carapace is covered in small granules, and is up to around 37 mm (1.5 in) across. It is a burrowing crab, and lives in open tidal flats, muddy or with sandy mud, low on tidal creek banks, and adjacent mangroves.
Tubuca coarctata is a species of fiddler crab found in the western Pacific ocean, including Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea and Australia. The common name of these crabs is either the compressed fiddler crab, or the orange-clawed fiddler crab,. They are found on tidal mud flats adjacent mangroves and muddy tidal creek and river banks.
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.
Tiomanium indicum, commonly known as the Tioman crab or the white clawed mangrove crab, is a crab in the family Sesarmidae. It inhabits the Western and central Indo-Pacific ocean, including Singapore, Malaysia, Australia (Queensland), the Philippines and New Guinea. Tioman crabs are supralittoral. In Cairns, Australia they are known for moving in numbers in some seasons entering backyards and homes. This species was originally described by H. Milne Edwards in 1837 as Sesarma indicum. It was placed in a new genus Tiomanium by Serene and Soh The carapace is convex and 34 mm length. Key features that differentiate Tiomanium from Neosarmatium include a spine at the end of the upper inner margin of the cheliped palm and a spine on the upper inner angle of the carpus.
Australoplax is a genus of crabs which are spread along the north-eastern coastline of Australia. The only species in this genus is Australoplax tridentata, commonly known as the furry-clawed crab or tuxedo shore crab, found in Queensland, New South Wales and the Northern Territory.
Paracleistostoma wardi is a species of crab first described as Cleistostoma wardi in 1926 by zoologist Mary J. Rathbun and named after former actor, marine collector and later honorary zoologist Charles Melbourne Ward. The type specimens were from mudflats in Sandgate, Queensland, Australia. It is known as Ward's hairy-legged crab, with Rathbun describing it as having "Ambulatory legs" which are "densely hairy". The crabs are small with holotypes 17.6 mm across the carapace and 12.2 mm long. The claws are red to maroon, with the upper moveable male claw (dactyl) having one tooth, at the base. There is orange coloration at the front edges of the carapace behind the eyes. The carapace is smooth, slightly convex, and has no teeth on the sides and looks cut-off at the front edges. It is found in Queensland from Moreton Bay to Cairns.
