''Leptuca subcylindrica'', commonly known as the Laguna Madre fiddler crab or the puffed fiddler crab, is a sparsely-studied 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 southern

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and northeastern

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 ...

in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

. Before 2016, the species was known as ''Uca subcylindrica''. In 2016, the subgenus ''

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 ...

'' was promoted to the genus level.

Description

The

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 tan to light orange in color and can be up to 25mm wide. The species epithet is derived from its cylindrical carapace. The male lacks a tuberculate ridge on the palm of the major

cheliped A chela ()also called a claw, nipper, or pinceris a pincer-like organ at the end of certain limbs of some arthropods. The name comes from Ancient Greek , through New Latin '. The plural form is chelae. Legs bearing a chela are called chelipeds. ...

. Its

gonopod Gonopods are specialized appendages of various arthropods used in reproduction or egg-laying. In males, they facilitate the transfer of sperm from male to female during mating, and thus are a type of intromittent organ. In crustaceans and millip ...

is unlike other fiddlers crab in that the distal part of the inner process is divided and appears fringed.

Habitat

The species lives in fresh to

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

water. Some habitats include mud flats, algal beds, rivers and creeks.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q107086616 Ocypodoidea Crustaceans described in 1900