| Tuerkayana hirtipes | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Crustacea |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Decapoda |
| Infraorder: | Brachyura |
| Family: | Gecarcinidae |
| Genus: | Tuerkayana |
| Species: | T. hirtipes |
| Binomial name | |
| Tuerkayana hirtipes | |
| Synonyms | |
Cardiosoma hirtipesDana, 1851 | |
Tuerkayana hirtipes is a species of terrestrial crab.
T. hirtipes can be distinguished from members of the genus Discoplax by the smooth and distinctly inflated carapace. It is also blue or blue-brown in colour, compared to purple or purple-brown in the remaining species. [2]
The breeding season for T. hirtipes lasts seven months, and females must migrate to the sea to release their larvae. [3]
T. hirtipes has a wide distribution across the western Pacific Ocean. [4] It has been recorded from southern Japan, Taiwan, southern China, Palau, Guam, eastern Australia, Fiji, Hawaii (a single record, almost certainly erroneous), the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore. [5] [6] Records from the Indian Ocean are now considered to belong to two related species, T. celeste (Christmas Island only) and D. magna (relatively widespread in eastern Indian Ocean). [4] [6]
Tuerkayana hirtipes was originally described by James Dwight Dana under the name Cardisoma hirtipes. His description was published in 1851 based on material collected on the United States Exploring Expedition ("Wilkes expedition") in Fiji. [7] The type material has been lost, so a neotype from Fiji was designated in 2012. [4]
In late 2018, a re-examination of the taxonomy of Gecarcinidae resulted in the creation of the genus Tuerkayana, which was created with four species from Cardisoma and Discoplax , including hirtipes. [8]
The stalk-eyed mud crab, Macrophthalmus hirtipes, is a marine large-eyed crab of the family Macrophthalmidae, endemic to New Zealand including Campbell Island. It grows to around 30 millimetres (1.2 in) shell width. It is either the only species in the subgenus Hemiplax and the most basal species in the genus Macrophthalmus, or the only species in the sister genus Hemiplax.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pseudozioidea is a superfamily of crabs, formerly treated in the Eriphioidea, Carpilioidea, Xanthoidea, Pilumnoidea and Goneplacoidea. A number of fossils from the Eocene onwards are known from the family Pseudoziidae. Eleven genera are recognised in three families:
Hemigrapsus is a genus of varunid crabs comprising thirteen species native almost exclusively in the Pacific Ocean, but two have been introduced to the North Atlantic region.
Villalobosius is a genus of crabs in the family Pseudothelphusidae, containing a single species, Villalobosius lopezformenti. It lives in the northern part of the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and is adapted to a troglobitic lifestyle.
Karstarma is a genus of karst-dwelling crabs formerly included in Sesarmoides.
Cyrtocarcinus truncatus is a species of crab in the family Xanthidae that lives in the waters around Hawaii. It was described in 1906 by Mary J. Rathbun as Harrovia truncata, based on a single immature male specimen caught near Kauai. Masatsune Takeda transferred the species to his new genus Glyptocarcinus in 1979, and Peter Ng and Diana Chia erected a new genus, Cyrtocarcinus, for this species alone, in 1994.
Vellodius etisoides is a species of crab in the family Xanthidae. It was originally described as Pilodius etisoides, but was transferred to the monotypic genus Vellodius in 1998. It is found around Amami Ōshima in the Ryūkyū Islands, and the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.
Glyptoxanthus is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae, containing the following species: It was originally erected by Alphonse Milne-Edwards in 1879 for six species previously placed in the genus Actaea and elsewhere. Although previously included in subfamily Euxanthinae, the genus has a quite distinct morphology from other genera in that group, and was placed in 2011 in the new, monotypic subfamily, Glyptoxanthinae by Jose Christopher Mendoza and Danièle Guinot.
Demania is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae, containing the following species:
Linnaeoxanthus is a genus of crab, whose only species is Linnaeoxanthus acanthomerus. Linnaeoxanthus is the only genus of the family Linnaeoxanthidae.
Marratha angusta is a species of crabs in the family Xanthidae, the only species in the genus Marratha. It was originally described as Cycloxanthops angustus by Mary J. Rathbun in 1906, but was moved to a new genus in 2003; the name of the genus, Marratha, is an "arbitrary abbreviation" of Rathbun's name. It has been recorded from the Amirante Islands (Seychelles), Hawaii and the South China Sea.
Pilumnoides is a genus of crabs in the family Pilumnoididae. The genus was erected by Hippolyte Lucas in 1844. It contains the following species:
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.
