Family CANCRIDAE Latreille, 1803
Compiler and date details
May 2012 - Peter Davie, Queensland Museum, Brisbane
- Cancerides Latreille, P.A. 1803. Histoire naturelle, Générale et Particulière, des Crustacés et des Insectes. Paris : F. Dufart Vol. 5 406 pp. [350] [corrected to Cancridae by MacLeay, W.S. 1838. On the Brachyurous Decapod Crustacea brought from the Cape by Dr Smith. pp. 53–71 pl. 3 in, Illustrations of the Annulosa of South Africa; being a portion of the objects of natural history collected during an expedition into the interior of South Africa, under the direction of Dr Andrew Smith, in the years 1834, 1835, and 1836; fitted out by "The Cape of Good Hope Association for Exploring Central Africa". London. 75 pp. 4 pls (59)].
- Trichoceridae Dana, J.D. 1852. On the classification of the Corystoidea, Paguridea, etc. American Journal of Science and Arts 2 13: 119-124 [120].
- Lobocarcinidae Beurlen, K. 1930. Vergleichende Stammesgeschichte Grundlagen, Methoden, Probleme unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der höheren Krebse. Fortschritte der Geologie und Palaeontologie 8: 540-546 [fossil representatives only].
Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy
- Manning, R.B. & Holthuis, L.B. 1981. West African Brachyuran Crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology No. 306: i-xii, 1-379 figs 1-88, 2 appendices [69]
- Schweitzer, C.E. & Feldmann, R.M. 2000. Re-evaluation of the Cancridae Latreille, 1802 (Decapoda: Brachyura) including three new genera and three new species. Contributions to Zoology 69(4): 223-250 [223, 243]
Introduction
The family Cancridae reaches its highest diversity in Northern Hemisphere temperate waters. Although Cancridae are known from several fossil genera in two subfamilies (Glaessner 1969), the modern fauna has been long considered to be represented by only Cancer Linnaeus (Nations 1975, 1979). Nations (1975) did however recognise a number of subgenera. The systematics of the Cancridae were recently reviewed by Schweitzer & Feldmann (2000), and these authors have elevated the older available generic and subgeneric names to full generic status, as well as describing three new genera for recent and fossil species. Only two species of cancrid occur in Australian waters. Metacarcinus novaezelandiae appears to have been introduced from New Zealand. Davie (1991) resurrected Platepistoma Rathbun to accommodate a number of deep water species from the Indo-Pacific, including a new species from seamounts off eastern Australia. Schweitzer & Feldmann (2000: 249-250) have provided a key to recent and fossil genera..
Diagnosis
Carapace broadly oval; anterolateral margins strongly convex, dentate; posterolateral margins short; front narrow, usually with teeth either side of median tooth which may be displaced ventrally; orbits small; antennules folding longitudinally or a little obliquely; basal antennal article longer than broad, flagellum short, more or less setose; epistome narrow. Third maxillipeds may overlap endostome. Chelipeds massive, subequal, similar in both sexes. Walking legs laterally compressed to more or less cylindrical; dactyli styliform. Male abdomen with third to fifth segments fused. Sternum relatively narrow; female genital openings sternal, male openings coxal. Male first gonopod stout, straight, tapered; second gonopod slender, and of similar length.
General References
Davie, P.J.F. 1991. Crustacea Decapoda: The genus Platepistoma Rathbun, 1906 (Cancridae) with the description of three new species. pp. 493-514 figs 1-7 in Crosnier, A. Résultats des Campagnes MUSORSTOM, Volume 9. Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris [1936-1950] 152(A): 1-520
Glaessner, M.F. 1969. Decapoda. pp. R399-R533, R626-R628 in Moore, R.C. (ed.). Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. Part R. Arthropoda 4 Crustacea (except Ostracoda) Myriapoda — Hexapoda. Laurence, Kansas : The University of Kansas and The Geological Society of America, Inc. Vol. 2 pp. R399-R651.
Nations, D. 1975. The genus Cancer (Crustacea: Brachyura): systematics, biogeography and fossil record. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Science Bulletin 23: 1-104
Nations, D. 1979. The genus Cancer and its distribution in time and space. Bulletin of the Biological Society of Washington 3: 153-187
Schweitzer, C.E. & Feldmann, R.M. 2000. Re-evaluation of the Cancridae Latreille, 1802 (Decapoda: Brachyura) including three new genera and three new species. Contributions to Zoology 69(4): 223-250
History of changes
Published | As part of group | Action Date | Action Type | Compiler(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
04-Jun-2012 | 04-Jun-2012 | MOVED | ||
10-May-2012 | 10-May-2012 | MODIFIED | ||
12-Feb-2010 | (import) |