''Metopograpsus messor'' is a species of grapsid

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...

that lives in mangroves from

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Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

Description

It grows up to wide. 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 ...

and legs are mottled brownish green, while the claws are brownish red.

Distribution

The distribution of ''M. messor'' extends from

, along the coast of the Indian Ocean, including the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, and at least as far east as

. Knowledge of its distribution has been clouded by confusion between ''M. messor'' and '' M. thukuhar'', which can only be told apart by detailed examination, but there are reports of ''M. messor'' as far east as the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...

Ecology

''M. messor'' lives in mangroves (including '' Avicennia marina'' and ''

Sonneratia alba ''Sonneratia alba'' is a mangrove tree in the family Lythraceae. The specific epithet ' is from the Latin meaning "white", referring to the flowers. Description ''S. alba'' grows up to tall with a trunk diameter up to . The cracked to fissured ...

''), as well as on rocky shores. It lives under rotting wood, and is capable of climbing trees.

Taxonomic history

''Metopograpsus messor'' was first described under the name ''Cancer messor'' by Peter Forsskål in 1775, in his ', based on material he collected at Suez.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6824280 Grapsidae Crustaceans described in 1775 Taxa named by Peter Forsskål