''Leptuca musica'', commonly known as the musical fiddler crab, is a species of

fiddler crab The fiddler crab or calling crab may be any of more than one hundred species of semiterrestrial marine crabs in the family Ocypodidae, well known for their sexual dimorphism, sexually dimorphic claws; the males' major claw is much larger than th ...

native to

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

and the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja Ca ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Taxonomy

Previously a member of the genus ''

Uca The fiddler crab or calling crab may be any of more than one hundred species of semiterrestrial marine crabs in the family Ocypodidae, well known for their sexually dimorphic claws; the males' major claw is much larger than the minor claw, whil ...

'', the species was transferred in 2016 to the genus ''

Leptuca ''Leptuca'' is a genus of fiddler crabs belonging to the family Ocypodidae. The species of this genus are found on the coasts of the Americas. Description They are small- to large-sized crabs with an adult carapace width of 5–25 mm in adult ...

'' when ''

'' was promoted from subgenus to genus level. At one time, the species was considered a subspecies of the same species with '' L. terpsichores''.

Description

The adult

carapace A carapace is a Dorsum (biology), dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tor ...

is usually around 10.5-11mm wide and is cylindrical. The minor cheliped is small in both sexes and has a wide gape.

Similar species

''L. musica'' is somewhat larger than '' L. terpsichores''. The tubercles on the outer manus are larger and they are more numerous along the anterior carapace. The gape in the major cheliped is more serrate and the gape in the minor cheliped is slightly wider.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q107086604 Ocypodoidea Crustaceans described in 1914