Deckenia (crab)

Deckenia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Crustacea
Class:	Malacostraca
Order:	Decapoda
Infraorder:	Brachyura
Family:	Potamonautidae
Genus:	Deckenia Hilgendorf, 1869
Species
Deckenia imitatrix Hilgendorf, 1869 Deckenia mitis Hilgendorf, 1898

Deckenia is a genus of freshwater crabs from East Africa, in the family Potamonautidae,^[1] or sometimes in a family of its own, Deckeniidae.^[2] The genus was named by Hilgendorf after Karl Klaus von der Decken who collected the first examples during his expeditions to Africa. Both species live in swamps from Eyl in Somalia to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, both in coastal areas and further inland.^[2] A third species, Deckenia alluaudi, lives in the Seychelles, and has been transferred to a separate genus, Seychellum.^[3]

Deckenia imitatrix

Deckenia imitatrix is found in the coastal plains between Kenya and Somalia.^[2] It is threatened by habitat loss, and is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List.^[4]

Deckenia mitis

Deckenia mitis is found in a few places in Kenya, and more widely in Tanzania from the eastern coastal lowlands to the western Wembere Steppe, and south to near Lake Malawi.^[2] It is threatened by habitat loss, and is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List.^[5]

References

1. ^ P. K. L. Ng, D. Guinot & P. J. F. Davie (2008). "Systema Brachyurorum: Part I. An annotated checklist of extant Brachyuran crabs of the world". Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 17: 1–286. http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/biblio/s17/s17rbz.pdf. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Saskia A. E. Marijnissen, Sven Lange & Neil Cumberlidge. "Revised distribution of the African freshwater crab genus Deckenia Hilgendorf, 1868 (Brachyura, Potamoidea, Deckeniidae)". Crustaceana 78 (7): 889–896. http://faculty.nmu.edu/ncumberl/PDFs/MARIJNISSENETAL-05_DECKENIA.PDF. 
3. ^ P. K. L. Ng, Z. Števčić & G. Pretzmann (1995). "A revision of the family Deckeniidae Ortmann, 1897 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Potamoidea), with description of a new genus (Gecarcinucidae: Gecarcinucoidea) from the Seychelles, Indian Ocean". Journal of Natural History 29 (3): 581–600. doi:10.1080/00222939500770201. 
4. ^ Neil Cumberlidge (2008). Deckenia imitatrix. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on January 31, 2010.
5. ^ Neil Cumberlidge (2008). Deckenia mitis. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on January 31, 2010.