Sand bubbler crabs (or sand-bubblers) are crabs of the

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial ...

''Scopimera'' and ''Dotilla'' in the family

Dotillidae The Dotillidae are a family of crabs with 59 species, nearly half of which are in the genus '' Ilyoplax''. The two genera ''Scopimera'' and ''Dotilla'' are collectively the sand bubbler crabs, which leave conspicuous collections of sand pellets ...

. They are small crabs that live on sandy beaches in the tropical

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

. They feed by filtering sand through their mouthparts, leaving behind balls of sand that are disintegrated by the incoming high tide.

Description

Sand bubbler crabs are small crabs, around across 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 und ...

, and they are characterised by the presence of "gas windows" on the merus of the

legs A leg is a weight-bearing and animal locomotion, locomotive anatomical structure, usually having a columnar shape. During locomotion, legs function as "extensible struts". The combination of movements at all joints can be modeled as a single ...

; in ''Dotilla'', these windows are also present on the

thoracic The thorax or chest is a part of the anatomy of humans, mammals, and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main divisions of the crea ...

sternite The sternum (pl. "sterna") is the ventral portion of a segment of an arthropod thorax or abdomen. In insects, the sterna are usually single, large sclerites, and external. However, they can sometimes be divided in two or more, in which case the ...

s. A similar system has evolved in parallel in the

porcelain crab Porcelain crabs are decapod crustaceans in the widespread family Porcellanidae, which superficially resemble true crabs. They have flattened bodies as an adaptation for living in rock crevices. They are delicate, readily losing limbs when attac ...

genus '' Petrolisthes''.

Distribution

Sand bubbler crabs are widespread across the

region, where they occur abundantly on sandy beaches in the tropics and sub-tropics.

Ecology and behaviour

Sand bubbler crabs live in

burrow An Eastern chipmunk at the entrance of its burrow A burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to construct a space suitable for habitation or temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion. Burrows provide a form of s ...

s in the sand, where they remain during high tide. When the tide is out, they emerge on to the surface of the sand, and pass the sand through their mouthparts, eating detritus and plankton, and discarding the processed sand as pellets, which cover the beach. The crabs work radially from the entrance to their burrows, which they re-enter as the tide rises and disintegrates the pellets. In each burrow, the crab waits out the high tide in a bubble of air. The material consumed by sand bubbler crabs has a very low concentration of organic matter, which is concentrated by egestion of indigestible material.

Taxonomy

Taxonomic history

The first sand bubbler crab to be described was ''Cancer sulcatus'' (now '' Dotilla sulcata'') by

Peter Forsskål Peter Forsskål, sometimes spelled Pehr Forsskål, Peter Forskaol, Petrus Forskål or Pehr Forsskåhl (11 January 1732 – 11 July 1763) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish explorer, orientalist, naturalist, and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. Early ...

in 1775. The genus ''Scopimera'' was originally described as a

subgenus In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed betw ...

of ''

Ocypode ''Ocypode'' is a genus of ghost crabs found in the sandy shores of tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world. They have a box-like body, thick and elongated eyestalks, and one claw is larger than the other in both males and fema ...

'' by

Wilhem de Haan Wilhem de Haan (7 February 1801 in Amsterdam – 15 April 1855 in Leiden) was a Dutch zoologist. He specialised in the study of insects and crustaceans, and was the first keeper of invertebrates at the Rijksmuseum in Leiden, now Naturalis. He was ...

in 1833, although the first species, ''Scopimera globosa'' was not validly described until 1835. At the same time, De Haan tried to erect the genus ''Doto'' for Forskål's ''Cancer sulcatus'', not realising that the name was

preoccupied The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linn ...

by the mollusc genus '' Doto''. The first available name for that genus was published by

William Stimpson William Stimpson (February 14, 1832 – May 26, 1872) was a noted American scientist. He was interested particularly in marine biology. Stimpson became an important early contributor to the work of the Smithsonian Institution and later, dire ...

in 1858, who called it ''Dotilla''. Ongoing

revisions Revision is the process of revising. More specifically, it may refer to: * Update, a modification of software or a database * Revision control, the management of changes to sets of computer files * '' ReVisions'', a 2004 anthology of alternate h ...

are likely to split the current genus ''Scopimera'' into at least two genera.

Species

Eight species of ''Dotilla'' and fifteen of ''Scopimera'' are currently recognised: * ''Dotilla'' **''

Dotilla blanfordi Sand bubbler crabs (or sand-bubblers) are crabs of the genus, genera ''Scopimera'' and ''Dotilla'' in the family Dotillidae. They are small crabs that live on sandy beaches in the tropical Indo-Pacific. They feed by filtering sand through their m ...

'' Alcock, 1900 **''

Dotilla fenestrata Sand bubbler crabs (or sand-bubblers) are crabs of the genera ''Scopimera'' and ''Dotilla'' in the family Dotillidae. They are small crabs that live on sandy beaches in the tropical Indo-Pacific. They feed by filtering sand through their mouthpar ...

'' Hilgendorf, 1869 **'' Dotilla intermedia'' De Man, 1888 **''

Dotilla malabarica Sand bubbler crabs (or sand-bubblers) are crabs of the genera ''Scopimera'' and ''Dotilla'' in the family Dotillidae. They are small crabs that live on sandy beaches in the tropical Indo-Pacific. They feed by filtering sand through their mouthpa ...

'' Nobili, 1903 **''

Dotilla myctiroides ''Dotilla myctiroides'' is a species of sand bubbler crab Sand bubbler crabs (or sand-bubblers) are crabs of the genera ''Scopimera'' and ''Dotilla'' in the family Dotillidae. They are small crabs that live on sandy beaches in the tropical In ...

'' (H. Milne-Edwards, 1852) **'' Dotilla pertinax'' Kemp, 1915 **'' Dotilla sulcata'' (Forskål, 1775) **''

Dotilla wichmani Sand bubbler crabs (or sand-bubblers) are crabs of the genera ''Scopimera'' and ''Dotilla'' in the family Dotillidae. They are small crabs that live on sandy beaches in the tropical Indo-Pacific. They feed by filtering sand through their mouthpar ...

'' De Man, 1892 *''Scopimera'' **''

Scopimera bitympana Sand bubbler crabs (or sand-bubblers) are crabs of the genus, genera ''Scopimera'' and ''Dotilla'' in the family Dotillidae. They are small crabs that live on sandy beaches in the tropical Indo-Pacific. They feed by filtering sand through their m ...

'' Shen, 1930 **'' Scopimera crabicauda'' Alcock, 1900 **''

Scopimera curtelsoma Sand bubbler crabs (or sand-bubblers) are crabs of the genera ''Scopimera'' and ''Dotilla'' in the family Dotillidae. They are small crabs that live on sandy beaches in the tropical Indo-Pacific. They feed by filtering sand through their mouthpa ...

'' Shen, 1936 **'' Scopimera globosa'' (De Haan, 1835) **''

Scopimera gordonae Sand bubbler crabs (or sand-bubblers) are crabs of the genera ''Scopimera'' and ''Dotilla'' in the family Dotillidae. They are small crabs that live on sandy beaches in the tropical Indo-Pacific. They feed by filtering sand through their mouthpar ...

'' Serène & Moosa, 1981 **''

Scopimera inflata ''Scopimera inflata'' is an Australian endemic species of sand bubbler crab common to wave exposed and estuarine sandy tropical and subtropical beaches of eastern Australia. Scopimera inflata are sand coloured and small sized with adults growin ...

'' A. Milne-Edwards, 1873 **''

Scopimera intermedia Sand bubbler crabs (or sand-bubblers) are crabs of the genera ''Scopimera'' and ''Dotilla'' in the family Dotillidae. They are small crabs that live on sandy beaches in the tropical Indo-Pacific. They feed by filtering sand through their mouthpar ...

'' Balss, 1934 **'' Scopimera investigatoris'' Alcock, 1900 **''

Scopimera kochi Sand bubbler crabs (or sand-bubblers) are crabs of the genus, genera ''Scopimera'' and ''Dotilla'' in the family Dotillidae. They are small crabs that live on sandy beaches in the tropical Indo-Pacific. They feed by filtering sand through their m ...

'' Roux, 1917 **''

Scopimera longidactyla Sand bubbler crabs (or sand-bubblers) are crabs of the genera ''Scopimera'' and ''Dotilla'' in the family Dotillidae. They are small crabs that live on sandy beaches in the tropical Indo-Pacific. They feed by filtering sand through their mouthpar ...

'' Shen, 1932 **''

Scopimera philippinensis Sand bubbler crabs (or sand-bubblers) are crabs of the genera ''Scopimera'' and ''Dotilla'' in the family Dotillidae. They are small crabs that live on sandy beaches in the tropical Indo-Pacific. They feed by filtering sand through their mouthpa ...

'' Wong, Shih & Chan, 2011 **'' Scopimera pilula'' Kemp, 1919 **'' Scopimera proxima'' Kemp, 1919 **''

Scopimera sheni Sand bubbler crabs (or sand-bubblers) are crabs of the genera ''Scopimera'' and ''Dotilla'' in the family Dotillidae. They are small crabs that live on sandy beaches in the tropical Indo-Pacific. They feed by filtering sand through their mouthpar ...

'' Wong, Shih & Chan, 2011 **'' Scopimera sigillorum'' (Rathbun, 1914)

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1227769 Ocypodoidea Arthropod common names