Biology:Mictyris

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Short description: Genus of crabs

Mictyris
Aus soldier Crab.jpg
Light-blue soldier crab, Mictyris longicarpus
Scientific classification e
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Infraorder: Brachyura
Superfamily: Ocypodoidea
Family: Mictyridae
Dana, 1851
Genus: Mictyris
Latreille, 1806

Mictyris is a genus of brightly coloured crabs, placed in its own taxonomical family, the Mictyridae.[1] It inhabits the central Indo-West Pacific region. These crabs congregate on mud flats or beaches in groups of a few thousand, and filter sand or mud for microscopic organisms. They congregate during low tide, and bury themselves in the sand during high tide or whenever they are threatened. This is done in wet sand, and they dig in a corkscrew pattern, leaving many small round pellets of sand behind them.

Species

The genus contains eight species:[1][2][3][4]

Image Scientific name Distribution
Mictyridae.jpg Mictyris brevidactylus Stimpson, 1858 Japan, China (including the type location, Hong Kong), Taiwan, Singapore, and parts of Indonesia (Karakelong, Bawean and Ambon Island)
Mictyris darwinensis Unno & Semeniuk, 2011 Australia(Kimberley to Cape York)
Mictyris guinotae Davie et al., 2010 Ryukyu Islands of Japan
Mictyris livingstonei McNeill, 1926 Australia
Aus soldier Crab.jpg Mictyris longicarpus Latreille, 1806 Bay of Bengal to New Caledonia and Australia
Mictyris occidentalis Unno, 2008 Australia(King Bay, Dampier Archipelago)
Mictyris platycheles.jpg Mictyris platycheles H. Milne-Edwards, 1852 Tasmania and Australia(Victoria to Queensland)
Mictyris thailandensis Davie, Wisespongpand & Shih, 2013 Thailand

The predictable behaviour of these crabs has led them to be used in experiments in a form of billiard ball computer.[5][6]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Peter K. L. Ng; Danièle Guinot; Peter J. F. Davie (2008). "Systema Brachyurorum: Part I. An annotated checklist of extant Brachyuran crabs of the world". Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 17: 1–286. http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/biblio/s17/s17rbz.pdf. 
  2. Peter Davie (2010). "Mictyris Latreille, 1806". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=439492. 
  3. Peter J. F. Davie; Hsi-Te Shih; Benny K. K. Chan (2010). "A new species of Mictyris (Decapoda, Brachyura, Mictyridae) from the Ryukyu Islands, Japan". Studies on Brachyura: a Homage to Danièle Guinot. pp. 83–105. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004170865.i-366.61. ISBN 9789047424178. http://decapoda.nhm.org/pdfs/31484/31484.pdf. 
  4. Unno, J.; Semeniuk, V. (2011). "A new species of Mictyris (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Mictyridae) recorded from northern Australia Kimberley region to Cape York". Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 94: 45–54. https://www.rswa.org.au/publications/Journal/94(1)/UnnoSemeniukpp.45-54.pdf. 
  5. Jacob Aron (April 12, 2012). "Computers powered by swarms of crabs". New Scientist. https://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2012/04/researchers-build-crab-powered.html. 
  6. Yukio-Pegio Gunji; Yuta Nishiyama; Andrew Adamatzky (2011). "Robust soldier crab ball gate". Complex Systems 20: 2. Bibcode2012arXiv1204.1749G. 

External links

Wikidata ☰ Q1318121 entry