scholarly journals Shell resource partitioning among three intertidal hermit crab species

2016 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-31
Author(s):  
Kogiku MORI ◽  
Tomoya MIURA ◽  
Tatsuya FUKUDA ◽  
Osamu MIURA
Author(s):  
Guillermina Alcaraz ◽  
Karla Kruesi

The gastropod shell influences important aspects of the hermit crab's life; however, the shells are commonly a limited resource. Therefore, different hermit crab species that coexist in intertidal areas are commonly involved in intraspecific and interspecific competition for shells. We assess if differences in shell preference, exploitation ability, or competition by interference can explain the partitioning of shells between the coexisting species Calcinus californiensis and Clibanarius albidigitus. Clibanarius preferred shells of Nerita funiculata among the six gastropod shells tested, while Calcinus did not establish a hierarchy in shell preference. Therefore, the preference for gastropod shell species does not seem to diminish the competition for shells in the wild. Clibanarius identified and attended to chemical cues signalling potential sites of available shells (chemical cues of dead gastropods); Calcinus did not respond to these cues (competition by exploitation). However, Calcinus was more successful in obtaining a new shell by interspecific shell fighting than Clibanarius. Consequently, the use of better quality shells (intact shells) by Calcinus in the wild can be explained by its greater fighting ability compared with Clibanarius. The bias in shell distributions through dominance by shell fighting, more than by exploitation ability, has also been suggested for other hermit crab species of these genera.


Oecologia ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Abrams ◽  
Carl Nyblade ◽  
Sallie Sheldon

Crustaceana ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 88 (10-11) ◽  
pp. 1127-1138 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. W. Teoh ◽  
V. C. Chong

Shield length-weight relationship (LWR) and relative growth were studied in three tropical hermit crab species, Diogenes moosai Rahayu & Forest, 1995, Diogenes lopochir Morgan, 1989, and Clibanarius infraspinatus (Hilgendorf, 1869). Overall, the length exponent (b) for LWR ranged between 2.67 to 3.28 with males of both Diogenes species showing positive allometry () and females showing negative allometry (), whereas that of both sexes of C. infraspinatus showed negative allometry. Males had larger b values than females in all species, indicating that males are heavier than females of equal shield length. In all species, relative growth of cheliped and chela exhibited positive allometry () with distinct sexual dimorphism whereby males bear longer chelipeds and chelae compared to females of equal shield lengths. Intra- and interspecific variations in growth of body and cheliped among the three sympatric hermit crab species allow for the resource partitioning of their vital shell resources.


Zootaxa ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 3244 (1) ◽  
pp. 59 ◽  
Author(s):  
IVAN MARIN ◽  
SERGEY SINELNIKOV

A new species of amphipod from the genus Metopelloides Gurjanova, 1938 (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Stenothoidae) asso-ciated with two species of sublittoral hermit crab species, Pagurus pectinatus (Stimpson, 1858) and Elassochirus cavi-manus (Miers, 1879) (Crustacea: Decapoda: Paguridae), is described from the Russian coasts of the Sea of Japan. The newspecies clearly differs from the congeners by the combination of morphological features such as telson without lateralspines, an elongated mandibular palp with single apical setae, the structures of distoventral palmar margins of subchelaon gnathopods I and II in females, bright white-red body coloration. Thus, the record of Metopelloides paguri sp. nov.represents the second record of the family Stenothoidae in the association with sublittoral hermit crabs from the Sea of Japan.


Zootaxa ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 801 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
TOMOYUKI KOMAI ◽  
MASAYUKI OSAWA

Discovery of a new hermit crab species from the Ryukyu Islands, Japan, led us to reexamine the holotype and supplemental specimens of Trichopagurus trichophthalmus (Forest), the type species of the heretofore monotypic Trichopagurus de Saint Laurent. Our examination has revealed that the gill lamellae of T. trichophthalmus are actually entire (= biserial), rather than shallowly divided distally (= quadriserial) as reported by de Saint Laurent (1970). The new species is assigned to Trichopagurus because of the 11 pairs of biserial gills, well-developed rostrum, moderately long male right sexual tube directed toward exterior, and the possession of a single left gonopore in female. The new species, T. macrochela n. sp., is distinguished from T. trichophthalmus primarily by the dorsoventrally flattened carpus with a distinctly delimited dorsomesial margin, less setose ambulatory legs, and markedly asymmetrical coxae of the female fifth pereopods, of which the left bears numerous setae on the ventral surface. It has been also shown that previous records of T. trichophthalmus from the Palau and Yap Islands are based on both true T. trichophthalmus and T. macrochela. A comparative, updated redescription of T. trichophthalmus is also provided.


Zootaxa ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 1627 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
MASAYUKI OSAWA ◽  
TOMOYUKI KOMAI

The pagurid hermit crab genus Pagurixus Melin, 1939, currently includes 24 species in the Indo-West Pacific, and recent studies have revealed the richness of this genus in southern Japan, particularly in coral reefs. In this paper, we deal with two species of the genus, P. dissimilis n. sp. described from southern Japan, and the recently described P. patiae Komai, 2006. The new species appears closest to P. nanus Komai & Takada, 2006 in both morphology and coloration in life, but is distinguished from the latter by having a clearly delimited dorsomesial margin of the dactylus of the right cheliped in males and females, a blunt but distinct median crest and a mesial row of small spines on the dorsal surface of the carpus of the male right cheliped, and paired gonopores in females. The newly obtained specimens of P. patiae from Okinawa Island enable us to describe the coloration in life of the species for the first time and to examine morphological variation. Brief notes on the distribution of the Japanese Pagurixus species are also provided.


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