Land crab

Land crab

Taxobox
name = Gecarcinidae


image_caption = "Cardisoma armatum"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
subphylum = Crustacea
classis = Malacostraca
ordo = Decapoda
infraordo = Brachyura
superfamilia= Grapsoidea
familia = Gecarcinidae
subdivision_ranks = Genera
subdivision =
* "Cardisoma"
* "Discoplax"
* "Epigrapsus"
* "Gecarcinus"
* "Gecarcoidea"
* "Johngarthia"

Gecarcinidae is a family of true crabs that are adapted for terrestrial existence, commonly known as land crabs. Similar to all other crabs, land crabs possess a series of gills. In addition, the part of the carapace covering the gills is inflated and equipped with blood vessels. These organs extract oxygen from the air, analogical to the vertebrate lungs. Adult land crabs are terrestrial, but visit the sea periodically, where they breed and their larvae develop. Land crabs are tropical omnivores who sometimes cause considerable damage to crops.

Gallery

ee also

* "Coenobita", a genus of terrestrial hermit crabs
* Coconut crab, another terrestrial crustacean
* Crustacean
* Halloween crab
* "Discoplax longipes"
* "Cardisoma carnifex"
* "Discoplax hirtipes"
* "Gecarcoidea lalandii"
* Christmas Island red crab
* "Geosesarma"
* "Metopaulias"
* "Sesarma""

References

Encarta Reference Library Premium 2005 DVD.


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Land crab — Land Land, n. [AS. land, lond; akin to D., G., Icel., Sw., Dan., and Goth. land. ] 1. The solid part of the surface of the earth; opposed to water as constituting a part of such surface, especially to oceans and seas; as, to sight land after a… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • land crab — noun 1. : any of certain crabs chiefly of the family Gecarinidae of the coasts of warm countries that live mostly upon land and breed in the sea and that include many forms (as Gecarinus ruricola) that attain considerable size and are eaten by… …   Useful english dictionary

  • land crab — any of several crabs, esp. of the family Gecarcinidae, that live chiefly upon land, returning to the sea to breed. [1630 40] * * * ▪ invertebrate       any crab of the family Gecarcinidae (order Decapoda of the class Crustacea), typically… …   Universalium

  • land crab — n. crab which spends all or most of its life on dry land …   English contemporary dictionary

  • land crab — noun a crab that lives in burrows on land and migrates to the sea to breed. [Family Gecarcinidae.] …   English new terms dictionary

  • land crab — /ˈlænd kræb/ (say land krab) noun any of several crabs, especially of the family Gecarcinidae, which are partially adapted to terrestrial life. Land crabs of varied species occur in many tropical regions …  

  • land-crab — a person who is not a fisherman (Newfoundland) …   Dictionary of ichthyology

  • land-crab — …   Useful english dictionary

  • great land crab — noun : a large swift moving dull grayish land crab (Cardisoma guanhumi) of the family Gecarcinidae that is widely distributed from southern Florida and the West Indies to Brazil, is chiefly nocturnal, and lives in deep burrows or the open fields… …   Useful english dictionary

  • black land crab — noun : a large active burrowing land crab (Gecarcinus lateralis) that is widely distributed on the Caribbean islands and the northern coast of So. America …   Useful english dictionary

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