Leptuca_terpsichores
Leptuca terpsichores
Species of crab
Leptuca terpsichores, commonly known as the dancing fiddler crab, is a species of fiddler crab native to the eastern Pacific coast of the Americas, from Nicaragua to Peru.[1]
| Leptuca terpsichores | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Decapoda |
| Suborder: | Pleocyemata |
| Infraorder: | Brachyura |
| Family: | Ocypodidae |
| Subfamily: | Gelasiminae |
| Tribe: | Minucini |
| Genus: | Leptuca |
| Species: | L. terpsichores |
| Binomial name | |
| Leptuca terpsichores (Crane, 1941) | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Uca terpsichores (basionym) | |
Previously a member of the genus Uca, the species was transferred in 2016 to the genus Leptuca when Leptuca was promoted from subgenus to genus level.[2][3] At one time, the species was considered a subspecies of L. musica.[1]
The adult carapace is approximately 7 mm wide.[1] The carapace is grey in color and males may exhibit yellow dorsal markings.[1]
Similar species
Leptuca terpsichores is smaller than L. musica.[1] L. terpsichores has smaller tubercles on the outer manus and fewer tubercles along the anterior carapace.[1] The gape in the major cheliped is less serrate and the gape in the minor cheliped is slightly narrower.[1]
The species can be found on bay shores with muddy sand substrate.[1]
- Crane, Jocelyn (1975). Fiddler Crabs of the World. Ocypodidae: Genus Uca (PDF). New Jersey, USA: Princeton University Press.
- Shih, Hsi-Te; Ng, Peter K. L.; Davie, Peter J. F.; Schubart, Christoph D.; et al. (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" (PDF). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 64: 139–175.
- Rosenberg, Michael S. (2019). "A fresh look at the biodiversity lexicon for fiddler crabs (Decapoda: Brachyura: Ocypodidae). Part 1: Taxonomy". Journal of Crustacean Biology. 39 (6): 729–738. doi:10.1093/jcbiol/ruz057.