Xanthidae | |
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Xantho poressa | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Malacostraca |
Order: | Decapoda |
Suborder: | Pleocyemata |
Infraorder: | Brachyura |
Superfamily: | Xanthoidea |
Family: | Xanthidae Macleay, 1838 [1] |
Subfamilies | |
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Xanthidae is a family of crabs known as gorilla crabs, mud crabs, pebble crabs or rubble crabs. [1] Xanthid crabs are often brightly coloured and are highly venomous, containing toxins which are not destroyed by cooking and for which no antidote is known. [2] [ better source needed ] The toxins are similar to the tetrodotoxin and saxitoxin produced by puffer fish, and may be produced by bacteria in the genus Vibrio living in symbiosis with the crabs, mostly V. alginolyticus and V. parahaemolyticus . [2] [ better source needed ]
Many species formerly included in the family Xanthidae have since been moved to new families. Despite this, Xanthidae is still the largest crab family in terms of species richness, with 572 species in 133 genera divided among the thirteen subfamilies: [3]
Pinnotheres is a genus of crabs, including the pea crab. Many species formerly in Pinnotheres have been placed in new genera, such as Zaops ostreus, the oyster crab and Nepinnotheres novaezelandiae, the New Zealand pea crab. The species currently recognised in the genus Pinnotheres are:
Portunidae is a family of crabs which contains the swimming crabs. Its members include many well-known shoreline crabs, such as the blue crab and velvet crab. Two genera in the family are contrastingly named Scylla and Charybdis; the former contains the economically important species black crab and Scylla paramamosain.
Majidae is a family of crabs, comprising around 200 marine species inside 52 genera, with a carapace that is longer than it is broad, and which forms a point at the front. The legs can be very long in some species, leading to the name "spider crab". The exoskeleton is covered with bristles to which the crab attaches algae and other items to act as camouflage.
Macrophthalmus is a genus of crabs which are widespread across the Indo-Pacific. It contains the following species :
The Varunidae are a family of thoracotrematan crabs. The delimitation of this family, part of the taxonomically confusing Grapsoidea, is undergoing revision. For a long time, they were placed at the rank of subfamily in the Grapsidae, but they appear to be closest to Macropthalmus and the Mictyridae, which are usually placed in the Ocypodoidea. It may thus be better to merge the latter superfamily with the Grapsoidea, retaining the latter name as it is older.
Pilumnoidea is a superfamily of crabs, whose members were previously included in the Xanthoidea. The three families are unified by the free articulation of all the segments of the male crab's abdomen and by the form of the gonopods. The earliest fossils assigned to this group are of Eocene age.
Actumnus is a genus of crabs in the family Pilumnidae. Alongside the 28 extant species, it has a fossil record extending back into the Miocene.
Etisus is a genus of crabs, containing the following extant species:
Epialtinae is a subfamily of crabs, containing the following genera:
Actaea is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae, containing the following species:
Paractaea is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae, containing the following species:
Pilodius is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae, containing the following species:
Medaeus is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae, containing the following species:
Palapedia is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae, containing the following species:
Liomera is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae. It contains the following extant species:
Neoliomera is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae, containing the following species:
Demania is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae, containing the following species:
Xanthias is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae, containing two exclusively fossil species and the following extant species:
Banareia is a genus of crabs in the family Xanthidae, containing the following species:
Pilumnus is a genus of crabs, containing the following species: