Cryptochiridae is a family of crabs known commonly as gall crabs or coral gall crabs. They live inside dwellings in corals and cause the formation of galls in the coral structure.[1][2] The family is currently placed in its own superfamily, Cryptochiroidea.
| Cryptochiridae | |
|---|---|
| |
| Lithoscaptus semperi | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Decapoda |
| Suborder: | Pleocyemata |
| Infraorder: | Brachyura |
| Subsection: | Thoracotremata |
| Superfamily: | Cryptochiroidea Paul'son, 1875 |
| Family: | Cryptochiridae Paul'son, 1875 |
| Genera | |
|
21, See text | |
Gall crabs are sexually dimorphic, with males being much smaller than females. Contrary to females, most males are free-living and "visit" females for mating.[1][3]
These crabs are most common in shallow waters where they live in association with stony corals, but they have also been recorded from mesophotic zones and deep waters.[4][5] They likely feed on mucus secreted by their coral hosts, as well as various detritus. Some species are thought to be filter feeders.[1]
Because crab size is related to gall size, it is likely that the crabs form the galls, rather than living randomly in a dwelling within a coral. Related groups of gall crab taxa share a similar gall type, suggesting that the crabs influence the morphology of the galls.[6]
The family contains the following twenty-one genera:[7][8]
- Cecidocarcinus Kropp & Manning, 1987
- Cryptochirus Heller, 1861
- Dacryomaia Kropp, 1990
- Detocarcinus Kropp & Manning, 1987
- Fizesereneia Takeda & Tamura, 1980
- Fungicola Serene, 1966
- Hapalocarcinus Stimpson, 1859
- Hiroia Takeda & Tamura, 1981
- Kroppcarcinus Badaro, Neves, Castro & Johnsson, 2012
- Lithoscaptus A. Milne-Edwards, 1862
- Luciades Kropp & Manning, 1996
- Neotroglocarcinus Fize & Serene, 1957
- Opecarcinus Kropp & Manning, 1987
- Pelycomaia Kropp, 1990
- Pseudocryptochirus Hiro, 1938
- Pseudohapalocarcinus Fize & Serène, 1956
- Troglocarcinus Verrill, 1908
- Sphenomaia Kropp, 1990
- Utinomiella Kropp & Takeda, 1988
- Xynomaia Kropp, 1990
- Zibrovia Kropp & Manning, 1996
References
edit- ^ a b c Johnsson, R., et al. (2006). The association of two gall crabs (Brachyura: Cryptochiridae) with the reef-building coral Siderastrea stellata Verrill, 1868. Hydrobiologia 559(1), 379-84.
- ^ Kropp, R. K. (1990). Revision of the genera of gall crabs (Crustacea: Cryptochiridae) occurring in the Pacific Ocean. Pacific Science 44(4) 417-48.
- ^ van der Meij, S.E.T. (2014). Host species, range extensions, and an observation of the mating system of Atlantic shallow-water gall crabs (Decapoda: Cryptochiridae) Bulletin of Marine Science 90,1001-1010.
- ^ van der Meij, S.E.T., et al. (2015). A mesophotic record of the gall crab Opecarcinus hypostegus from a Curaçaoan reef. Bulletin of Marine Science 91, 205-206.
- ^ van Tienderen, K.M. & S.E.T. van der Meij (2016). Occurrence patterns of coral-dwelling gall crabs (Cryptochiridae) over depth intervals in the Caribbean. PeerJ 4, e1794.
- ^ Wei, T. P., et al. (2013). Gall polymorphism of coral-inhabiting crabs (Decapoda, Cryptochiridae): a new perspective. Archived 2020-11-11 at the Wayback Machine Journal of Marine Science and Technology 21, 304-07.
- ^ WoRMS |url=http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=106753 |title= Cryptochiridae |accessdate=March 13, 2016
- ^ P. K. L. Ng, D. Guinot & P. J. F. Davie (2008). "Systema Brachyurorum: Part I. An annotated checklist of extant Brachyuran crabs of the world" (PDF). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 17: 1–286. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-06.