''Leptuca musica'', commonly known as the musical fiddler crab, is a species of

fiddler crab The fiddler crab or calling crab can be one of the hundred species of semiterrestrial marine crabs in the family Ocypodidae. These crabs are well known for their extreme sexual dimorphism, where the male crabs have a major claw significantly l ...

native to

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

and the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California (), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Vermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja California peninsula from ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Taxonomy

Previously a member of the genus '' Uca'', the species was transferred in 2016 to the genus ''

Leptuca ''Leptuca'' is a genus of fiddler crabs belonging to the family Ocypodidae. The species of this genus are found on the coasts of the Americas. Description They are small- to large-sized crabs with an adult carapace width of 5–25 mm in adu ...

'' when ''

'' was promoted from subgenus to genus level. At one time, the species was considered a subspecies of the same species with '' L. terpsichores''.

Description

The adult

carapace A carapace is a dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the unde ...

is usually around 10.5–11 mm wide and is cylindrical. The minor

cheliped A chela ()also called a claw, nipper, or pinceris a pincer-shaped organ at the end of certain limbs of some arthropods. The name comes from Ancient Greek , through Neo-Latin '. The plural form is chelae. Legs bearing a chela are called chelipeds ...

is small in both sexes and has a wide gape.

Similar species

''L. musica'' is somewhat larger than '' L. terpsichores''. The tubercles on the outer manus are larger and they are more numerous along the anterior carapace. The gape in the major cheliped is more serrate and the gape in the minor cheliped is slightly wider.

References

Ocypodoidea Crustaceans of the eastern Pacific Ocean Endemic crustaceans of Mexico Crustaceans described in 1914 Taxa named by Mary J. Rathbun {{Ocypodoidea-stub