Oedignathus

Oedignathus inermis is a species of king crab found off the Pacific coasts of the United States and Canada, from California[3] to Alaska,[4] and disjunctly around the coasts of Japan.[5] It is the only species in the genus Oedignathus, and is sometimes called the granular claw crab,[2] paxillose crab[6] or tuberculate nestling lithode crab.[7]

Oedignathus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Subphylum:
Crustacea
Class:
Malacostraca
Order:
Decapoda
Infraorder:
Anomura
Family:
Hapalogastridae
Genus:
Oedignathus

Benedict, 1895 [1]
Species:
O. inermis
Binomial name
Oedignathus inermis
(Stimpson, 1860) [2]

Characteristics

Oedignathus is distinguished from other king crabs in the subfamily Hapalogastrinae by the presence of numerous tubercles on the only slightly flattened chelipeds and legs, and by the paucity of spines, setae; other genera have flattened chelipeds covered in setae, and legs with several large spines.[8]

Ecology

O. inermis lives in pairs under the purplish coralline algae which encrust the rocks around the low tide mark,[3] and may be found at depths of 0–45 metres (0–148 ft).[5] When in the littoral zone, O. inermis is associated with mussel beds, but it spends more time in the sublittoral zone.[9] Larvae are released in January and February, at a similar time to other hermit crabs, perhaps to coincide with seasonal blooms of plankton for the larvae to feed on.[10]

O. inermis is preyed upon by birds such as the American black oystercatcher.[11]

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References
  1. "Oedignathus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
  2. "Oedignathus inermis". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
  3. G. E. MacGintie (1937). "Notes on the natural history of several marine crustacea". American Midland Naturalist. The University of Notre Dame. 18 (6): 1031–1037. doi:10.2307/2420601. JSTOR 2420601.
  4. "Oedignathus inermis (Stimpson, 1860)". Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 2007-08-16.
  5. V. V. Petryashev (2005). "Biogeographical division of the North Pacific sublittoral and upper bathyal zones by the fauna of Mysidacea and Anomura (Crustacea)". Russian Journal of Marine Biology. 31 (Supplement 1): S9–S26. doi:10.1007/s11179-006-0011-7.
  6. Bradley G. Stevens. "A Checklist of Alaskan Crabs" (PDF). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
  7. "British Columbia Estuary Mapping System". Integrated Land Management Bureau, Province of British Columbia. March 1999. Archived from the original on 2007-02-25. Retrieved 2007-08-16.
  8. Dave Cowles (2006). "Key to Family Lithodidae". Walla Walla University. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-08-16.
  9. Stephen H. Morrell; Harriet R. Huber; T. James Lewis; David G. Ainley (1979). "Feeding ecology of black oystercatchers on South Farallon Island, California". Studies in Avian Biology. 2: 185–186.
  10. S. Wada, H. Kitaoka & S. Goshima (2000). "Reproduction of the hermit crab Pagurus lanuginosus and comparison of reproductive traits among sympatric species". Journal of Crustacean Biology. 20 (3): 474–478. doi:10.1651/0278-0372(2000)020[0474:ROTHCP]2.0.CO;2.
  11. J. Timothy Wootton (1997). "Estimates and tests of per capita interaction strength: diet, abundance, and impact of intertidally foraging birds" (PDF). Ecological Monographs. 67 (1): 45–64. doi:10.1890/0012-9615(1997)067[0045:EATOPC]2.0.CO;2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-11. Retrieved 2010-06-12.
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