Hexapodidae

For the six-legged octopus, see Henry the Hexapus.
Not to be confused with Hexapoda.

Hexapodidae
Temporal range: Paleocene–Recent
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Infraorder: Brachyura
Subsection: Heterotremata
Superfamily: Hexapodoidea
Miers, 1886 [1]
Family: Hexapodidae
Miers, 1886 [1]
Type genus
Hexapus
De Haan, 1833
Genera

See text

Hexapodidae is a family of crabs, the only family in the superfamily Hexapodoidea.[1] It has traditionally been treated as a subfamily of the family Goneplacidae,[2] and was originally described as a subfamily of Pinnotheridae.[citation needed] Its members can be distinguished from all other true crabs by the reduction of the thorax, such that only seven sternites are exposed, and only four pairs of pereiopods are present.[3] Not counting the enlarged pair of claws, this leaves only six walking legs, from which the type genus Hexapus, and therefore the whole family, takes its name. Some anomuran "crabs", such as porcelain crabs and king crabs also have only four visible pairs of legs. With the exception of Stevea williamsi, from Mexico, all the extant members are found either in the Indo-Pacific oceans, or around the coast of Africa.[3]

  1. ^ a b c Sammy De Grave; N. Dean Pentcheff; Shane T. Ahyong; et al. (2009). "A classification of living and fossil genera of decapod crustaceans" (PDF). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. Suppl. 21: 1–109. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-06.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ a b Carrie E. Schweitzer; Rodney M. Feldmann (2001). "Differentiation of the fossil Hexapodidae Miers, 1886 (Decapoda: Brachyura) from similar forms" (PDF). Journal of Paleontology. 75 (2): 330–345. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2001)075<0330:DOTFHM>2.0.CO;2.