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Horseshoe crabs are arthropods of the family Limulidae and the only surviving xiphosurans. Despite their name, they are not true crabs or even crustaceans; they are chelicerates, more closely related to arachnids like spiders, ticks, and scorpions. The body of a horseshoe crab is divided into three main parts: the cephalothorax, abdomen, and ...
Atlantic horseshoe crab on the shore at Brighton Beach, New York City. The Atlantic horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus), also known as the American horseshoe crab, is a species of horseshoe crab, a kind of marine and brackish chelicerate arthropod. [1] It is found in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic coast of North America. [1]
The group has hardly changed in appearance in hundreds of millions of years; the modern horseshoe crabs look almost identical to prehistoric genera and are considered to be living fossils. The most notable difference between ancient and modern forms is that the abdominal segments in present species are fused into a single unit in adults.
Horseshoe crab blood contains a clotting agent, limulus amebocyte lysate, which is used to test antibiotics and kidney machines to ensure that they are free of dangerous bacteria, and to detect spinal meningitis and some cancers. [94] Cooked tarantula spiders are considered a delicacy in Cambodia, [95] and by the Piaroa Indians of southern ...
Diagram highlighting the telson of the prawn Litopenaeus setiferus Telson (arrow no. 3) of the horseshoe crab Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda. The telson (from Ancient Greek τέλσον 'headlands, limit') is the hindmost division of the body of an arthropod.
Horseshoe crabs predate the dinosaurs, having inhabited ocean environments for more than 400 years, but their populations have been depleted for decades due to harvest in part for bait to catch ...
The jumping spider Phidippus audax.The basal parts of the chelicerae are the two iridescent green mouthparts. The chelicerae (/ k ə ˈ l ɪ s ər iː /) are the mouthparts of the subphylum Chelicerata, an arthropod group that includes arachnids, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders.
For example, in horseshoe crabs, they are like pincers, whereas in spiders, they are hollow and contain (or are connected to) venom glands and are used to inject venom to disable prey prior to feeding. In some spiders, the chelicerae have teeth, which are used to macerate prey items to assist digestion by secreted enzymes.