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The coconut crab (Birgus latro) is a terrestrial species of giant hermit crab, and is also known as the robber crab or palm thief. It is the largest terrestrial arthropod known, with a weight of up to 4.1 kg (9 lb).
Some crab-shaped species have evolved away from the crab form in a process called decarcinisation. Decarcinisation, or the loss of the crab-like body, has occurred multiple times in both Brachyura and Anomura. [25] [26] However, there are varying degrees of carcinisation and decarcinisation. Thus, not all species can necessarily be distinctly ...
Female coenobitids return to the sea to hatch their eggs and their larvae develop through planktonic zoeal stages to a megalopa, in a similar way as the marine hermit crabs. Just like these species, after settlement, terrestrial hermit crabs megalopae recognize and co-opt gastropods shells, before migrating into the land and molting to the ...
Hermit crab species range in size and shape, from species only a few millimeters long to Coenobita brevimanus (Indos Crab), which can approach the size of a coconut and live 12–70 years. The shell-less hermit crab Birgus latro (coconut crab) is the world's largest terrestrial invertebrate.
During their larval stage, millions of red crab larvae are eaten by fish and large filter-feeders such as manta rays and whale sharks which visit Christmas Island during the red crab breeding season. Coconut crabs (alternatively known as robber crabs) have also been filmed on Christmas Island preying on red crabs. [14]
The remaining group, called Pleocyemata, then diverged between the swimming shrimp groupings and the crawling/walking group called Reptantia, consisting of lobsters and crabs. High species diversification can be traced to the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, which coincides with the rise and spread of modern coral reefs , a key habitat for the ...
Coenobita is closely related to the coconut crab, Birgus latro, with the two genera making up the family Coenobitidae.The name Coenobita was coined by Pierre André Latreille in 1829, from an Ecclesiastical Latin word, ultimately from the Greek κοινόβιον, meaning "commune"; the genus is masculine in gender.
It is one of the most significant adaptations of some crabs [1] and hermit crabs such as the coconut crab to their terrestrial habitats. The branchiostegal (gill) tissue is supported by folds or other mechanisms to increase surface area and are of a similar tissue to that normally found in gills. In this case, the lung is more suited to the ...