Family OCYPODIDAE Rafinesque, 1815

Uca coarctata [from A. Milne Edwards 1873: pl. 12 fig. 4]

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Introduction

Most ocypodids live intertidally and make burrows in sandy to muddy substrates. They have more or less elongate eyestalks, allowing them a wide angle of view in the flatter open areas that they normally inhabit. The 'ghost crabs' of Australia's ocean beaches are possibly the best known among Australian ocypodid crabs, and the colourful 'fiddler crabs' are readily identified by fishermen and others who venture near mangroves.

The Ocypodidae has in the past been divided into four subfamilies: Ocypodinae, Macrophthalminae, Heloecinae, and Dotillinae, and another subfamily, the Camptandriinae, was also commonly referred to Ocypodidae. These are now all considered families in their own right (see Ng et al. 2008).

Important works on the Australian fauna include: George & Knott (1965); Barnes (1967); George & Jones (1982); Türkay (1983); von Hagen & Jones (1989); Davie (1990, 1993).

Diagnosis

Carapace quadrangular to pentagonal; deep and strongly vaulted, or more or less flattened; with or without anterolateral teeth. Front usually narrow to very narrow, often in form of more or less deflexed lobe lying between bases of eyestalks. Orbits broad, occupying whole anterior margin of carapace each side of front. Eyestalks long. Interantennular septum broad to narrow. Third maxilliped usually completely closing buccal cavern, sometimes leaving a gap but never rhomboidal; exopod generally slender and often more or less concealed; palp articulating at or near antero-external angle of merus. Male abdomen narrow, with all segments usually distinct. Often with hairy-edged pouch leading into branchial cavity between bases of third and fourth, or second and third, pereiopods. Sternum usually broad posteriorly, narrower in Heloecinae. Female openings sternal; male openings sternal or coxo-sternal (Heloecinae).

General References

Barnes, R.S.K. 1967. The Macrophthalminae of Australasia; with a review of the evolution and morphological diversity of the type genus Macrophthalmus (Crustacea: Brachyura). Transactions of the Zoological Society of London 31(2): 195-262 figs 1-16 pls 1-4

Davie, P.J.F. 1990. New and rare crabs of the subfamily Dotillinae (Crustacea: Ocypodidae) from northern Australia and New Guinea. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 28(2): 463-473

Davie, P.J.F. 1993. A new genus of Macrophthalmine crab (Crustacea: Decapoda: Ocypodidae) from Eastern Australia. Records of the Australian Museum 45: 5-9

George, R.W. & Jones, D.S. 1982. A revision of the Fiddler Crabs of Australia (Ocypodinae: Uca). Records of the Western Australian Museum Suppl. No. 14: 5-99

George, R.W. & Knott, M.E. 1965. The Ocypode Ghost Crabs of Western Australia (Crustacea, Brachyura). Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 48(1): 15-21 figs 1-3

Hagen, H.O. von & Jones, D.S. 1989. The fiddler crabs (Ocypodidae: Uca) of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. The Beagle, Records of the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory 6(1): 55-68

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.

Shih, H.-T., Ng, P.K.L., Davie, P.J.F., Schubart, C.D., Türkay, M., Naderloo, R., Jones, D. & Liu, M.-Y. 2016. Systematics of the family Ocypodidae Rafinesque, 1815 (Crustacea: Brachyura), based on phylogenetic relationships, with a reorganization of subfamily rankings and a review of the taxonomic status of Uca Leach, 1814, sensu lato and its subgenera. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 64: 139–175 [Date published 21 July 2016]

Türkay, M. 1983. The systematic position of an Australian mangrove crab Heloecius cordiformis (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura). Memoirs of the Australian Museum 18: 107-111

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