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.
| Gecarcinidae | |
|---|---|
| |
| Gecarcinus quadratus (Halloween crab) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Decapoda |
| Suborder: | Pleocyemata |
| Infraorder: | Brachyura |
| Superfamily: | Grapsoidea |
| Family: | Gecarcinidae MacLeay, 1838 [1] |
The family contains these genera:[1]
Mitochondrial genome sequencing indicates that members of the family (Gecarcoidia natalis and Cardisoma carnifex) are sister to the Sesarmidae.[3]
See also
edit- Sesarmidae, another family of terrestrial crabs
- Coenobitidae, terrestrial hermit crabs
References
edit- ^ a b Peter K. L. Ng; Danièle Guinot & Peter J. F. Davie (2008). "Systema Brachyurorum: Part I. An annotated checklist of extant Brachyuran crabs of the world" (PDF). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 17: 1–286. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-06.
- ^ Guinot, Danièle; Ng, Ngan Kee; Rodríguez Moreno, Paula A. (21 December 2018). "Review of grapsoid families for the establishment of a new family for Leptograpsodes Montgomery, 1931, and a new genus of Gecarcinidae H. Milne Edwards, 1837 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura, Grapsoidea MacLeay, 1838)" (PDF). Zoosystema. 40 (sp1): 547–604. doi:10.5252/zoosystema2018v40a26. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 February 2019.
- ^ Zhang, Ying; Gao, Yan; Gong, Li; Lu, Xinting; Jiang, Lihua; Liu, Bingjian; Liu, Liqin; Lü, Zhenming; Li, Pengfei (2021-12-01). "Mitochondrial Genome of Episesarma lafondii (Brachyura: Sesarmidae) and Comparison with Other Sesarmid Crabs". Journal of Ocean University of China. 20 (6): 1545–1556. doi:10.1007/s11802-021-4779-z. ISSN 1993-5021.
- Encarta Reference Library Premium 2005 DVD.
External links
edit
Media related to Gecarcinidae at Wikimedia Commons
Data related to Gecarcinidae at Wikispecies
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