Aratus pisonii exoskeleton (mangrove tree crab) (Sanibel Island, Florida, USA)

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Description: English: Aratus pisonii (Milne-Edwards, 1837) - exoskeleton of a mangrove tree crab in Florida, USA. (March 2014) The crustaceans are a large group of arthropods that inhabit marine, marginal marine, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats. The crustaceans include crabs, lobsters, shrimp, crayfish, barnacles, ostracods, and other organisms. The oldest fossil crustaceans are in the Cambrian. The group experienced a significant radiation in the oceans during the Mesozoic Marine Revolution. The mangrove tree crab shown above occupies mangrove swamp environments. It usually lives among red mangroves - Rhizophora mangle (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhizophora_mangle). At low tide, the crabs are near or on the ground. During high tide, they ascend tree trunks, often to relatively high levels. Mangrove tree crabs are omnivorous - they are principally herbivores, feeding on mangrove foliage, but are also detritovores, scavengers, and predators on small invertebrates and some protists. The empty nonmineralized exoskeleton shown above is composed of chitin, a tough organic material (see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitin ). Classification: Animalia, Arthropoda, Crustacea, Malacostraca, Decapoda, Brachyura, Sesarmidae Locality: Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel Island, southwestern Florida, USA More info. at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crustacean and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aratus_pisonii. Date: 12 March 2014, 15:12:54. Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/47445767@N05/29332828330/. Author: James St. John. Camera location26° 27′ 15″ N, 82° 06′ 58.2″ W View all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap 26.454167; -82.116167.