The Grapsidae are a
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
of
crab
Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek language, Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen#Arthropoda, abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the Thorax (arthropo ...
s known variously as marsh crabs, shore crabs, or talon crabs.
The family has not been confirmed to form a
monophyletic group and some
taxa
In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...
may belong in other families.
They are found along the shore among rocks, in
estuaries
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...
,
marsh
In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...
es, and in some cases pelagic among drifting
seaweed
Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of ''Rhodophyta'' (red), '' Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...
s and
flotsam.
Genera
A number of taxa, formerly treated as
subfamilies
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zool ...
of the family Grapsidae are now considered
families
Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...
in their own right, including the
Varunidae and
Plagusiidae.
Forty species and ten genera remain in the family, two of the genera known only from
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...
s:
*''
Geograpsus''
Stimpson, 1858
*''
Goniopsis''
De Haan, 1833
*''
Grapsus''
Lamarck, 1801
*''
Leptograpsodes''
Montgomery, 1931
*''
Leptograpsus
''Leptograpsus variegatus'', known as the purple rock crab, is a marine large-eyed crab of the family (biology), family Grapsidae, found in southern subtropical Indo-Pacific Oceans. It grows to around shell width. It is the only species in the ...
''
H. Milne Edwards, 1853
*''
Litograpsus'' †
Schweitzer & Karasawa, 2004
*''
Metopograpsus''
H. Milne Edwards, 1853
*''
Miograpsus'' †
Fleming, 1981
*''
Pachygrapsus''
Randall, 1840
*''
Planes''
Bowdich, 1825
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Decapod families