Portunus

For the Roman god or Roman temple to the god of the same name, see Portunus (mythology).

Portunus
Temporal range: Paleogene - Recent
Portunus hastatus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Infraorder: Brachyura
Family: Portunidae
Subfamily: Portuninae
Genus: Portunus
Weber, 1795 [1]
Type species
Cancer pelagicus
Synonyms[2]

Portunus is a genus of crabs which includes several important species for fisheries, such as the blue swimming crab and the Gazami crab.[3] Other species, such as the three-spotted crab are caught as bycatch.[4]

Fossil of Portunus convexus

The genus Portunus contains 13 extant species and another 26 species known only from fossils. Fossils of crabs within this genus can be found in sediment of Europe, the United States, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil and Australia from Paleogene to recent (age range: 48.6 to 0.0 million years ago).[5]

  1. ^ "Portunus Weber, 1795". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
  2. ^ "Portunus Weber, 1793". BioLib.
  3. ^ "Portunus trituberculatus (Miers, 1876)". Species Fact Sheets. FAO Fisheries & Aquaculture. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  4. ^ "Sydney Fish Market: Crabs". Archived from the original on 2013-10-09. Retrieved 2013-10-09.
  5. ^ Fossilworks