''Leptuca spinicarpa'', commonly known as the spiny-wristed fiddler crab or the spined 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 coastal habitats along the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

from northwestern

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

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, ''L. spinicarpa'' was reduced to a subspecies of '' L. speciosa'', but this is no longer accepted due to morphological, genetic, and behavioral differences.

Description

The

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 ...

can be up to 23mm wide and is often green in color in the frontal area. Strongly raised tuberculate ridges are present on the palm of the male's major

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 ...

; a large tubercle is present on the carpus.

Habitat

The species lives in fresh to brackish water on intertidal banks and marshes with firm clay, clay-sand, or clay-mud substratum.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q107086613 Ocypodoidea Crabs of the Atlantic Ocean Crustaceans described in 1900 Taxa named by Mary J. Rathbun