''Tubuca flammula'', commonly known as the flame-backed 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 ...

that is found in the northwest of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, the northern part of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

and the western half of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

''Tubuca flammula'' was formerly 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 ...

'', but in 2016 it was placed in the genus ''

Tubuca ''Tubuca'' is a genus in Ocypodidae, a family of fiddler and ghost crabs. There are more than 20 described species in ''Tubuca''. Species These 23 species belong to the genus ''Tubuca'': * '' Tubuca acuta'' (Stimpson, 1858) * '' Tubuca alcocki' ...

'', a former subgenus of ''Uca''.

Description

Like other fiddler crabs, ''Tubuca flammula'' males have one claw that is significantly larger than the other, while females have two equal-sized smaller claws. It has a black carapace with two white or pinkish parallel marks running fore and aft near the centre and a solid red band across the front of the carapace. The claws are bright red-orange and the eyes are close together.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q14510198 Ocypodoidea Taxa named by Jocelyn Crane Crustaceans described in 1975