Ocypode gaudichaudii

Ocypode gaudichaudii
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Infraorder: Brachyura
Family: Ocypodidae
Genus: Ocypode
Species:
O. gaudichaudii
Binomial name
Ocypode gaudichaudii

Ocypode gaudichaudii, also known as the painted ghost crab or cart driver crab, is a species of crab found on Pacific beaches from El Salvador to Chile as well as on the Galápagos Islands. The species was first described by Henri Milne-Edwards and Hippolyte Lucas in 1843.[1]

They are diurnal crustaceans that display a red-orange color with sandy dots across the back of the carapace.[2]

They are described with three distinct feeding behaviors that vary based on food source and development: as deposit feeders, scavengers, and predators.[3] In all methods of feeding, visual clues and chemosensory are used to locate potential food.[4] Their diet includes organic matter within sand, live organisms, and dead matter from both ocean and terrestrial sources.[5]

In Peru, this crab is the host of the acanthocephalan parasite Neoandracantha peruensis.[6]

  1. ^ Milne Edwards, Henri; Lucas, Hippolyte (1844). "Voyage Dans L'Amerique Meridionale". Pitois-Levrault. 6 – via World Register of Marine Species.
  2. ^ Arndt, Rudolf G. (1999). "Predation by the Black Iguana (Ctenosaura similis) On the Painted Ghost Crab (Ocypode gaudichaudii) in Costa Rica". Florida Scientist. 62 (2): 111–114. ISSN 0098-4590.
  3. ^ Lim, Shirley S. L.; Yong, Adeline Y. P.; Christy, John H. (2016). "Ontogenetic changes in diet and related morphological adaptations in Ocypode gaudichaudii". Invertebrate Biology. 135 (2): 117–126. doi:10.1111/ivb.12122. ISSN 1744-7410.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ McDermott, John J. (2009). "Notes on the Unusual Megalopae of the Ghost Crab Ocypode quadrata and Related Species (Decapoda: Brachyura: Ocypodidae)". Northeastern Naturalist. 16 (4): 637–646. ISSN 1092-6194.
  6. ^ Amin, Omar M.; Heckmann, Richard A. (2017). "Neoandracantha peruensis n. gen. n. sp. (Acanthocephala, Polymorphidae) described from cystacanths infecting the ghost crab Ocypode gaudichaudii on the Peruvian coast". Parasite. 24: 40. doi:10.1051/parasite/2017038. PMC 5657191. PMID 29072573. Open access icon