Family CARPILIIDAE Ortmann, 1893

Carpilius maculatus [P. Davie (2002: 135)]

Museums

Regional Maps

• Carpilides Milne Edwards, A. 1862. Monographie des Crustacés fossiles de la famille des Canceriens. Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Paris Zool. 4 18: 31-85 pls 1-10 [40] [colloquial French and thus not available].
• Carpilinae Ortmann, A.E. 1893. Abtheilung: Brachyura (Brachyura genuina Boas) II. Unterabtheilung: Cancroidea, 2. Section: Cancrinea, 1. Gruppe: Clyclometopa. Die Decapoden-Krebse des Strassburger Museums, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der von Herrn Dr Döderlein bei Japan und bei den Liu-Kiu-Inseln gesammelten und zur Zeit im Strassburger Museum aufbewahrten Formen, VII. Theil. Zoologische Jahrbücher. Abteilung für Systematik, Geographie und Biologie der Tiere 7: 411-495 pl. 17 [429, 463].

  Type genus:

   Carpilius Leach, 1823.
• Liagorides Milne Edwards, A. 1862. Monographie des Crustacés fossiles de la famille des Canceriens. Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Paris Zool. 4 18: 31-85 pls 1-10 [41] [colloquial French and thus not available].

Introduction

This small family is restricted to the Indo-west Pacific. Carpiliids have been included in the Xanthidae by many authors, but are now considered to warrant separate family status (Serène 1984; Ng 1998). The two species of Carpilius are both large and distinctive components of the tropical reef fauna of N Australia. The genus Liagore has been misplaced in the Carpiliidae in the past, but is now considered to be in the Xanthidae (see Ng et al. 2008).

Diagnosis

Carapace broad, transversely oval; anterolateral margins entire, but ending in low epibranchial tubercle at posterolateral junction; dorsal surface convex, smooth, without indication of regions. Chelipeds large, swollen, smooth, unequal; larger cheliped with single large molariform tooth near base of dactyl. Walking legs thin, subcylindrical, smooth. Thoracic sternum narrow; sutures 4/5 to 7/8 complete and nearly parallel. Male abdomen with segments 3–5 fused. Male genital openings coxal; female openings sternal. Male first gonopod stout, conical; second gonopod longer or as long as first.

General References

Ng, P.K.L, Guinot, D. & Davie, P.J.F. 2008. Systema Brachyurorum: Part I. An annotated checklist of extant brachyuran crabs of the world. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 17: 1-286 [Date published 31 January 2008]

Ng, P.K.L. 1998. Crabs. pp. 1045-1155 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, V.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 2 687-1396 pp.

Serène, R. 1984. Crustacés Décapodes Brachyoures de l'Océan Indien occidental et de la Mer Rouge. Xanthoidea: Xanthidae et Trapeziidae. Avec un addendum par Crosnier, A.: Carpilliidae et Menippidae. Faune Tropicale 24: 1-400 figs A-C, 1-243 pls 1-48

History of changes