Porcelain crab

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Porcelain crabs
Temporal range: Tithonian–Recent
Southeastern Pacific species of Petrolisthes, Allopetrolisthes and Liopetrolisthes
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Infraorder: Anomura
Superfamily: Galatheoidea
Family: Porcellanidae
Haworth, 1825
Genera

See text

Porcelain crabs are decapod crustaceans in the widespread family Porcellanidae, which superficially resemble true crabs. They have flattened bodies as an adaptation for living in rock crevices. They are delicate, readily losing limbs when attacked, and use their large claws for maintaining territories. They first appeared in the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic epoch, 145–152 million years ago.

Description

Porcelain crabs are small, usually with body widths less than 15 millimetres (9⁄16 inch).

pereiopods is reduced and used for cleaning.[4]

Evolution

Porcelain crabs are an example of

walking legs (three instead of four pairs; the fourth pair is reduced and held against the carapace), and the long antennae originating on the front outside of the eyestalks.[3] The abdomen of the porcelain crab is long and folded underneath it, free to move.[3]

Biogeography and ecology

Porcellana platycheles
Neopetrolisthes maculatus

Porcelain crabs live in all the world's oceans, except the Arctic Ocean and the Antarctic.[7] They are common under rocks, and can often be found and observed on rocky beaches and shorelines, startled creatures scurrying away when a stone is lifted. They feed by combing plankton and other organic particles from the water using long setae (feathery hair- or bristle-like structures) on the mouthparts.[4]

Some of the common species of porcelain crabs in the Caribbean Sea are Petrolisthes quadratus, found in large numbers under rocks in the intertidal, and the red-and-white polka-dotted Porcellana sayana, which lives commensally within the shells inhabited by large hermit crabs. In Hong Kong, Petrolisthes japonicus is common.[2]

Diversity

As of 2018, some 4723 extant species of porcelain crab had been described,[8][citation needed] divided among these 30 genera:[8][9]

The

fossil record of porcelain crabs includes species of Pachycheles, Pisidia, Polyonyx, Porcellana, and a further six genera known only from fossils:[10]

The earliest claimed porcelain crab fossil was Jurellana from the Tithonian aged Ernstbrunn Limestone of Austria.[10] However, it was subsequently determined to be a true crab. With the new oldest porcelain crab being Vibrissalana from the same locality.[11]

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-520-25118-2
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-962-209-027-9
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-643-06906-0
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-962-593-157-9
    .
  5. PMID 11886621
    .
  6. S2CID 26260996
    .
  7. ^ P. McLaughlin, S. Ahyong & J. K. Lowry (October 2, 2002). "Porcellanidae Haworth, 1825". Anomura: Families. Australian Museum. Archived from the original on April 29, 2005. Retrieved February 10, 2005.
  8. ^ a b Masayuki Osawa & Patsy A. McLaughlin (2010). "Annotated checklist of anomuran decapod crustaceans of the world (exclusive of the Kiwaoidea and families Chirostylidae and Galatheidae of the Galatheoidea) Part II – Porcellanidae" (PDF). Zootaxa. Suppl. 23: 109–129. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-02.
  9. ^ WoRMS (2010). "Porcellanidae". World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
  10. ^
    doi:10.1127/0077-7749/2010/0096
    .
  11. ISSN 0024-4082
    .
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