Hexapus is a genus of crabs in the family Hexapodidae. It contains only three extant species found in the Indo-West Pacific. They inhabit the intertidal and subtidal areas of shorelines.

Hexapus
Temporal range: Lutetian–Recent
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Infraorder: Brachyura
Family: Hexapodidae
Genus: Hexapus
De Haan, 1833
Type species
Cancer sexpes
Fabricius, 1798
Species

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Description

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Like other members of the family, these crabs are easily recognizable due to the complete absence of the last pair of walking legs (pereiopods). They thus only have six walking legs (excluding the claws), unlike the usual eight. Their carapace is subquadrate, wider than it is long, with a rounded anterior.[1]

Species

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The following are the species classified under Hexapus.[1]

Species marked with are extinct

Extant species

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Found in Goa, India[2]
Found from Cochin, southwest India to Phuket, Thailand and the Penang Strait of Malaysia
Found in Timika, Papua, Indonesia

Fossil species

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Originally described as Prepaeduma decapoda. From Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia (Miri Formation, Pliocene)[3]
From Bolbe, Davao City, Philippines (Mandug Formation, early Pleistocene)[4]
From the Jōban Coal Field of Iwaki, Fukushima, Japan (Nakayama Formation, Miocene)[5]
From the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan (Kirthar Formation, Lutetian)[6]

Excluded species

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Hexapus estuarinus is now regarded as a junior synonym of Hexapus sexpes. In addition, the following the species has been transferred to other genera:[1][7][8]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Dwi Listyo Rahayu; Peter K. L. Ng (2014). "New genera and new species of Hexapodidae (Crustacea, Brachyura) from the Indo-West Pacific and east Atlantic" (PDF). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 62: 396–483. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-12-15. Retrieved 2014-12-15.
  2. ^ Dinesh T. Velip; Chandrashekher U. Rivonker (2014). "Hexapus bidentatus sp. nov. (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Hexapodidae), a new species from Goa, west coast of India". Marine Biology Research. 11 (1): 97–105. doi:10.1080/17451000.2014.889305. S2CID 83647412.
  3. ^ S. F. Morris; J. S. H. Collins (1991). "Neogene crabs from Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak. Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History". Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology. 47 (1): 1–33.
  4. ^ Hiroaki Karasawa; Hisayoshi Kato; Tomoki Kase; Yolanda Maac-Aguilar; Yukito Kurihara; Hiroki Hayashi; Kyoko Hagino (2008). "Neogene and Quaternary ghost shrimps and crabs (Crustacea, Decapoda) from the Philippines". Bulletin of the National Museum of Nature and Science. Series C, Geology & Paleontology. 34: 51–76.
  5. ^ Rikizo Imaizumi (1959). "A fossil crab, Hexapus nakajimai n. sp. from Jōban Coal Field" (PDF). Japanese Journal of Geology and Geography. 30: 25–30.
  6. ^ "†Hexapus pinfoldi Collins and Morris 1978 (crab)". Fossilworks. Paleobiology Database. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
  7. ^ Jung-Fu Huang; Pan-Wen Hsueh; Peter K. L. Ng (2002). "Crabs of the family Hexapodidae (Decapoda: Brachyura) from taiwan, with description of a new genus and new species" (PDF). Journal of Crustacean Biology. 22 (3): 651–660. doi:10.1163/20021975-99990277.
  8. ^ Peter J. F. Davie (2014). "Hexapus De Haan, 1835". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved December 16, 2014.