The Paguridae 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
hermit crab
Hermit crabs are anomuran Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the superfamily (taxonomy), superfamily Paguroidea that have adapted to occupy empty scavenged mollusc shells to protect their fragile exoskeletons. There are over 800 species of hermit c ...
s of the order
Decapoda
The Decapoda or decapods, from Ancient Greek δεκάς (''dekás''), meaning "ten", and πούς (''poús''), meaning "foot", is a large order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, and includes crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, a ...
. The king crabs,
Lithodidae, are now widely understood to be derived from deep within the Paguridae, with some authors placing their ancestors within the genus ''Pagurus''.
List
This family contains the following genera:
References
External links
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Hermit crabs
Taxa named by Pierre André Latreille
Decapod families
{{Anomura-stub