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Scientific name: Macrocoeloma trispinosum
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Bronwydd Arms, Wales, United Kingdom
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The freshwater crab fauna of China is incredibly diverse, containing many highly endemic species with a restricted ranges. One of the rarest species is Daipotamon minos, a cavernicolous species from La Tai Dong cave. The species was discovered 1996 and is so far only known from the type locality, a small river inside a karstic cave. There is no light where the crabs live although they do not seem to have adapted morphologically to the cave as a habitat, still having fully pigmented eyes and a dark brown carapax and light brown walking legs.During my visit, I only found 3 specimens, two juveniles and one adult, and they are not at all abundant inside the cave. However, the cave is rarely visited by locals and by its natural constitution well protected from habitat alteration. A future problem could be pestecides and fertilizer in the river water, which would be definitely worth studying.Adult crab, Libo, Guizhou.Further information:Ng, P.K.L. & Trontelj, P. 1996. Daipotamon minos, a new genus and species of potamid crab (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura) from a cave in China. Proceedings of the biological society of Washington 109(3): 476 - 481
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Scientific name: Stenorhynchus seticornis
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Chicago, Illinois, United States
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Bako, Sarawak, Malaysia
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Collected from Puget Sound sediments and photographed by the Washington State Department of Ecologys Marine Sediment Monitoring Team. For more information about this teams work visit:
www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/eap/psamp/index.htm.
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Scientific name: Stenocionops furcatus coelatus
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Puerto Quepos, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
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Scientific name: Stenorhynchus yangi
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Armadillidium vulgarepill-bug/pill woodlouseApril 2012Point Loma, San Diego, CAHTHMA Garden
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Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
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Scientific name: Processa guyanae
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Scientific name: Hepatus epheliticus
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Scientific name: Euchirograpsus americanus
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Portsmouth, England, United Kingdom
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Until now, the semi-terrestically freshwater crab Nanhaipotamon hongkongense was due to lack of better distribution knowledge considered a Hong Kong endemic. During a night walk in Shenzhen, however, I found crabs resembling the phenotype of N. hongkongense, so this species is most probably distributed in the southern parts of Guangdong, as well. Other than N. guangdongense, which was abundant and not too hard to observe at some sites in Zhuhai, I was not able to find a site where N. hongkongense was similarly abundant. The crabs tend to flee and hide in their burrows at the slightest disturbance and may therefore be more cryptic than allied species in southern China. Of all Nanhaipotamon species, N. hongkongense is the most traded in pet markets even in Europe because of its variable and signalling red or orange colour and vivid behaviour.Collections of wild animals may pose a threat to current populations in Hong Kong. This and a cryptic life history may be the reason why they did not seem to be as abundant as N. guangdongense.Wutong Shan, Shenzhen, China.