Coenobita rubescens

Coenobita rubescens
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Crustacea
Class:	Malacostraca
Order:	Decapoda
Infraorder:	Anomura
Family:	Coenobitidae
Genus:	Coenobita
Species:	C. rubescens
Binomial name
	Coenobita rubescens; (Greeff, 1884) [1]

Coenobita rubescens is a species of terrestrial (land-living) hermit crab, family Coenobitidae.[1]

They are the only known terrestrial hermit crab species on the Atlantic coast of western Africa.[2][3] They were first described by the German zoologist Richard Greeff in the West African islands of São Tomé and Rolas, after initially being misidentified as Coenobita rugosus.[2] They are able to venture far inland, in altitudes exceeding 800 m (2,600 ft). In spite of this, the ovigerous females must release the fertilized eggs in the ocean for the larvae to develop (as with all known species of terrestrial hermit crabs).[3]

The species is presumably named for the dark red coloration of their exoskeleton. Under Greeff's original observation, this species has a more elongated antennule and the left cheliped lacks the stridulation ridges (as such seen in C. rugosus), leading to the distinction.[2]

At approximately 48 g (1.7 oz), they are rather small by Coenobita standards. As with other terrestrial hermit crab species, they are omnivorous. There are reports of this species carrying a sea urchin test in place of a more typical gastropod shell.[3]

References

Patsy A. McLaughlin; Tomoyuki Komai; Rafael Lemaitre; Dwi Listyo Rahayu (2010). Martyn E. Y. Low and S. H. Tan (ed.). "Annotated checklist of anomuran decapod crustaceans of the world (exclusive of the Kiwaoidea and families Chirostylidae and Galatheidae of the Galatheoidea)" (PDF). Zootaxa. Part I – Lithodoidea, Lomisoidea and Paguroidea. Suppl. 23: 5–107. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-01-22.
Verlag, Elwert (1885). Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft zur Beförderung der gesammten Naturwissenschaften zu Marburg (in German). Universitäts-Buchdruckerei. p. 53.
Burggren, Warren; McMahon, Brian, eds. (1988). Biology of the Land Crabs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 14-15, 383. ISBN 978-0-521-30690-4.

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[mclaughlin-1] Patsy A. McLaughlin; Tomoyuki Komai; Rafael Lemaitre; Dwi Listyo Rahayu (2010). Martyn E. Y. Low and S. H. Tan (ed.). "Annotated checklist of anomuran decapod crustaceans of the world (exclusive of the Kiwaoidea and families Chirostylidae and Galatheidae of the Galatheoidea)" (PDF). Zootaxa. Part I – Lithodoidea, Lomisoidea and Paguroidea. Suppl. 23: 5–107. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-01-22.

[greeff-2] Verlag, Elwert (1885). Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft zur Beförderung der gesammten Naturwissenschaften zu Marburg (in German). Universitäts-Buchdruckerei. p. 53.

[burggren-3] Burggren, Warren; McMahon, Brian, eds. (1988). Biology of the Land Crabs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 14-15, 383. ISBN 978-0-521-30690-4.