Family RANINIDAE De Haan, 1839

Notopoides latus [from Henderson 1888: pl. 3 fig. 1]

Museums

Regional Maps

• Cyrthorhinae Guinot, D. 1993. Données nouvelles sur les Raninoidea de Haan, 1841 (Crustacea Decapoda Brachyura Podotremata). Comptes Rendus (Hebdomadaires) des Séances de l'Academie des Sciences. Série D. Sciences Naturelles 316: 1324-1331 [1325, 1330].

  Type genus:

   Cyrtorhina Monod, 1956.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Guinot, D. 1993. Données nouvelles sur les Raninoidea de Haan, 1841 (Crustacea Decapoda Brachyura Podotremata). Comptes Rendus (Hebdomadaires) des Séances de l'Academie des Sciences. Série D. Sciences Naturelles 316: 1324-1331 [1325]

Introduction

These odd-looking crabs are commonly termed `spanner crabs', alluding to the peculiar shape of the raninid claws, or `frog crabs' because the shape of some species is reminiscent of a frog. Spanner crabs live in soft substrates, mostly in relatively shallow coastal waters. They are highly specialised for burrowing, with flattened legs for digging, and a specialised respiratory system. They feed primarily on worms and molluscs. Most species are small and rarely encountered, but Ranina ranina grows to a large size and has become the basis of an important fishery, especially in south-eastern Queensland (Brown 1986).

Dawson & Yaldwyn (1994) published a very useful and extensive bibliography of the Raninidae, and Dawson & Yaldwyn (2000) provided a key to all raninid genera. Other important works that assist in the identification of Australian genera and species are Goeke (1986), Davie & Short (1989) and Guinot (1993).

Diagnosis

Carapace longitudinally elongate, more or less ovate, moderately broad to narrow, greatest breadth in anterior third. Buccal cavity elongate, triangular. Proximal articles of the exopodite and endopodite of first maxilliped forming a respiratory canal; inhalant branchial canals between first abdominal segment and coxae of fifth pereiopods. Third maxillipeds narrow, completely covering the buccal cavity. Chelipeds robust, subequal, chelae usually broad and flat, fingers nearly at right angles to hand. Walking legs with flattened propodi and dactyli. Thoracic sternum very narrow, especially sternites 5–7. Abdomen 7-segmented, narrow in both sexes, very short and incompletely folded; without uropods. Male and female genital openings coxal; spermathecae present. Male first gonopod short, either foliaceous and not completely closed, or a completely closed tube; second gonopod either long and ending in broad appendix masculina, or short and sigmoid, or with a very slightly styliform extremity.

General References

Brown, I.W. 1986. South Queensland's spanner crabs — a growing fishery. Australian Fisheries 45(10): 3-7

Davie, P.J.F. & Short, J.W. 1989. Deepwater Brachyura (Crustacea: Decapoda) from southern Queensland, Australia with descriptions of four new species. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 27(2): 157-187

Dawson, E.W. & Yaldwyn, J.C 1994. The frog crabs (Crustacea: Brachyura: Raninidae) — a species list and bibliographic index. Occasional Papers of the Hutton Foundation, New Zealand 6: i-iii, 1-60

Dawson, E.W. & Yaldwyn, J.C. 2000. Description and ecological distribution of a new frog crab (Crustacea, Brachyura, Raninidae) from northern New Zealand waters, with keys to recent raninid genera and Notosceles species. Tuhinga, Te Papa Museum of New Zealand 11: 47-71

Goeke, G.D. 1986. Decapod Crustacea: Raninidae. pp. 205-228 figs 1-10 in Crosnier, A. Résultats des campagnes MUSORSTOM I et II. Philippines (1976, 1980), Tome 2. Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris [1936-1950] Ser A Zool. 133: 1-525

Guinot, D. 1993. Données nouvelles sur les Raninoidea de Haan, 1841 (Crustacea Decapoda Brachyura Podotremata). Comptes Rendus (Hebdomadaires) des Séances de l'Academie des Sciences. Série D. Sciences Naturelles 316: 1324-1331

History of changes