Family CALAPPIDAE De Haan, 1833

<em>Mursia curtispina</em> [from Miers 1886: pl. 24]

Mursia curtispina [from Miers 1886: pl. 24]

<em>Calappa depressa</em> [from Miers 1886: pl. 23]

Calappa depressa [from Miers 1886: pl. 23]

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Family CALAPPIDAE De Haan, 1833

Compiler and date details

May 2012 - Peter Davie, Queensland Museum, Brisbane

Calappidea De Haan, W. 1833. Crustacea. i-xvii, i-xxxi, ix-xvi, 1-243 pls A-J, in Von Siebold, P.F. (ed.). Fauna Japonica sive Descriptio Animalium, quae in Itinere per Japoniam, Jussu et Auspiciis Superiorum, qui Summum in India Batava Imperium Tenent, Suscepto, Annis 1823–1830 Collegit, Notis, Observationibus et Adumbrationibus Illustravit. Leiden : Lugduni-Batavorum. [published from 1833–1850] [ix] [corrected to Calappidae by White, A. 1847. List of the Specimens of Crustacea in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum viii 143 pp. (44); Name No. 371 on Official List of Family-Group Names in Zoology, see International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 1964. Opinion 712. Forty-seven genera of Decapod Crustacea: placed on the Official List. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 21: 336–351 [26 November 1964]].
Secondary source:
White, A. 1847. List of the Specimens of Crustacea in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum viii 143 pp. [Date published Apr/1847]; International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 1964. Opinion 712. Forty-seven genera of Decapod Crustacea: placed on the Official List. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 21: 336-351 [26 November 1964].

Introduction

Members of the Calappidae are generally known as `Box Crabs' because species of Calappa, in particular, are able to hide away their legs and claws under or against the shell, and so appear inert and box-like. The name `Shame-faced crabs' is also used, referring to the way that they hold their broad flat claws across the front of the shell, hiding the face, as if guilty of some misdemeanour.

Calappids are predators. Species of Calappa have a unique supplementary tooth near the base of the fingers of one claw which they use in a `can-opener' fashion to break open gastropod snail shells (see Ng & Tan 1984). The taxonomy of the two genera occurring in Australian waters, Calappa and Mursia, was revised recently by Galil (1993, 1997), who provided keys to all species.

The Calappidae has long been considered to comprise three subfamilies: Calappinae, Matutinae, and Orithyinae. Relationships amongst these groups have been questioned in recent years on the basis of evidence from both adult and larval morphology (Guinot 1978; Rice 1980; Seridji 1993). Stevcic (1983) using physiological, morphological, and developmental evidence, argued strongly that the subfamilies are not closely related, and that the three groups form separate, well-delimited families. This was also the conclusion of Bellwood (1996), who undertook a thorough cladistic analysis, and concluded that the Calappidae sensu lato is polyphyletic, and that the subfamilies are more appropriately treated as families.

Diagnosis

Carapace sub-circular or transversely ovate; with a more or less strongly developed posterolateral expansion entirely or partially covering walking legs. Antennules folding obliquely or nearly vertically. Antennae generally small. Third maxilliped not elongate or acute, not completely closing buccal cavern, not concealing palp when resting; exopodite broad. Afferent branchial canals opening in front of bases of third maxilliped; efferent branchial canals together forming deep channel in endostome, covered by pair of lamellar processes from first maxiliped. Chelipeds subequal; chelae high, robust, curved, shutting closely against pterygostome; one chela with large hooked tooth near base of gape fitting into cup-like depression on fixed finger. Walking legs with dactyli tapered and pointed, not flattened. Male abdomen with some segments fused. Female openings sternal; male openings coxal. First male gonopod stout, tapered; second male gonopod thin, longer than first gonopod, short to long flagellum may be straight, curved, or crotchet-shaped.