Cardisoma


Cardisoma is a genus of large land crabs. Three species formerly placed in this genus are now placed in Discoplax. The four species that remain in Cardisoma are found in warm coastal regions where they live in burrows. Young individuals are often very colourful with a purple-blue carapace and orange-red legs, but as they grow older the colours tend to fade, and females may be duller than males. Although less extreme than in fiddler crabs, one claw is usually considerably larger than the other. They are omnivores, but primarily feed on plant material.

Species

The genus Cardisoma comprises these four species:
ImageNameCommon nameDistribution
Cardisoma armatum Herklots, 1851 rainbow crab, moon crab or patriot crabeast Atlantic coastal regions
Cardisoma carnifex red-claw crabIndo-Pacific coastal regions
Cardisoma crassum Smith, 1870mouthless crabeast Pacific coastal regions
Cardisoma guanhumi Latreille, 1825blue land crab or giant land crabwest Atlantic coastal regions