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OverviewAI-generated
Paguroidea is a superfamily of hermit crabs within the order Decapoda, class Malacostraca, and phylum Arthropoda. The taxon, whose parent group is Anomura, was described by Latreille in 1802 and holds an accepted status. Its origin dates to approximately 136 million years ago.
Members of this superfamily inhabit marine, brackish, and freshwater environments. Coconut crabs are included among the common names associated with the group. Specimens have been recorded in Mexico, the United States, Indonesia, Canada, and the Bahamas. Collections are held at institutions including CAS, UAM, ALMNH, FMNH, and CMN.
Synthesized by Vinony from 22 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, WoRMS, iDigBio, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Species
coconut crabs
Superfamily
- PhylumArthropoda
- ClassMalacostraca
- OrderDecapoda
via
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 1,675
- With media
- 38
- Collections
- CAS, UAM, ALMNH, FMNH, CMN
- Recorded in
- Mexico, United States, Indonesia, Canada, Bahamas
Wikidata facts
Show 7 more facts
- taxon name
- Paguroidea
- Commons category
- Paguroidea
- topic's main category
- Category:Hermit crabs
- taxon rank
- superfamily
- taxon common name
- Hermit Crabs
- exact match
- wordnet-rdf.princeton.edu/wn31/101988959-n
- start time
- 136000000-
Sources (6)
via Wikidata · CC0
~20 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Hermit crabs are anomuran decapod crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea that have adapted to occupy empty scavenged gastropod shells to protect their fragile abdomens. There are over 800 species of hermit crab, most of which possess an asymmetric abdomen concealed by a snug-fitting shell. Hermit crabs' soft (non-calcified) abdominal exoskeleton means they must occupy shelter produced by other organisms or risk being defenseless.
The strong association between hermit crabs and their shelters has significantly influenced their biology. Almost 800 species carry mobile shelters (most often calcified snail shells); this protective mobility contributes to the diversity and multitude of these crustaceans, which are found in almost all marine environments. In most species, development involves metamorphosis from symmetric, free-swimming larvae to morphologically asymmetric, benthic-dwelling, shell-seeking crabs. Such physiological and behavioral extremes facilitate a transition to a sheltered lifestyle, revealing the extensive evolutionary lengths that led to the superfamily's success.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Paguroidea” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.