The Coenobitidae are the family of
terrestrial hermit crab
Hermit crabs are anomuran Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the superfamily (taxonomy), superfamily Paguroidea that have adapted to occupy empty scavenged mollusc shells to protect their fragile exoskeletons. There are over 800 species of hermit c ...
s, widely known for their land-living habits as adults. They are found in coastal
tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...
regions around the world and require access to the ocean to breed.
Although coenobitids are fully terrestrial as adults, they spend their marine life as planktonic larvae. Female coenobitids return to the sea to hatch their eggs and their larvae develop through planktonic zoeal stages to a megalopa, in a similar way as the marine hermit crabs. Just like these species, after settlement, terrestrial hermit crabs megalopae recognize and co-opt gastropods shells, before migrating into the land and molting to the first crab stage.
The 17 species are placed in two genera:
References
* Hamasaki, K., Iizuka, C., Sanda, T., Imai, H. and Kitada, S. (2017), ''Phylogeny and phylogeography of the land hermit crab Coenobita purpureus (Decapoda: Anomura: Coenobitidae) in the Northwestern Pacific Region.'' Mar Ecol, 38: e12369.
External links
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Hermit crabs
Terrestrial crustaceans
Decapod families
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