File:Tachypleus_gigas.JPG · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
OverviewAI-generated
Limulidae is a family of marine arthropods within the class Merostomata and order Xiphosurida. The taxon, which belongs to the phylum Arthropoda and kingdom Animalia, was described by Leach in 1819 and holds an accepted status. Common names for the group include Pfeilschwanzkrebse, Limulidi, Ostrogony, Hrotnáčovité, and カブトガニ科.
Records of this family are documented in the United States, Panama, Germany, Malaysia, and Peru. Specimens are held by institutions such as NMMNHS, USNM, CMC, CHAS, and UOMNH. The family has been described in sources including the Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition, Gujin Tushu Jicheng, and Zedler’s Großes vollständiges Universallexicon aller Wissenschaften und Künste.
Synthesized by Vinony from 34 facts across 6 sources: Wikidata, GBIF, Gbif Occ, WoRMS, iDigBio, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Species
カブトガニ科
Limulidae
FAMILY
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumArthropoda
- ClassMerostomata
- OrderXiphosurida
- FamilyLimulidae
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 48
- With media
- 45
- Family
- Limulidae
- Collections
- NMMNHS, USNM, CMC, CHAS, UOMNH, NHMUK
- Recorded in
- United States, Panama, Germany, Malaysia, Peru, China
Wikidata facts
Show 7 more facts
- taxon name
- Limulidae
- taxon rank
- family
- Commons category
- Limulidae
- topic's main category
- Category:Limulidae
- Commons gallery
- Limulidae
- taxon common name
- podkvaste rakovice
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~34 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Horseshoe crabs are arthropods of the family Limulidae and the only surviving xiphosurans. Despite their name, they are not crabs or even crustaceans; they are chelicerates, more closely related to arachnids like spiders, ticks, and scorpions. The body of a horseshoe crab is divided into three main parts: the cephalothorax, abdomen, and telson. The largest of these, the cephalothorax, houses most of the animal's eyes, limbs, and internal organs. It is also where the animal gets its name, as its shape somewhat resembles that of a horseshoe. Horseshoe crabs have been described as "living fossils", having changed little since they first appeared in the Triassic around 250 million years ago, and similar-looking fossil xiphosurans extend back to the Ordovician around 445 million years ago.
Only four species of horseshoe crab are extant today, the Atlantic horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus), native to the eastern coast of North and Central America, as well as the mangrove horseshoe crab (Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda), tri-spine horseshoe crab (Tachypleus tridentatus) and Indo-Pacific horseshoe crab (Tachypleus gigas), which are native to South, South East, and East Asia.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Limulidae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.