Philippines Brachyuran Crabs

This page links to photos of Brachyuran crabs we have seen during several trips to the Anilao area of the Philippines. Many of our species remain unidentified and many names we provide are uncertain. Much of crab taxonomy depends upon close examination of the numerous appendages, something that is not easily done through in situ photographs of the living animal. We welcome corrections or suggestions at uwkwaj@yahoo.com. The Brachyurans constitute the larger of the two main groups of crabs. The other group. the Anomurans, consisting of hermit crabs, porcelain crabs and squat lobsters, either are or will be covered elsewhere on this site. Like the Anomurans, we show only a small sampling of the Brachyuran species known from the Philippines.

Measurements were not taken in the field and animals were not collected, so any sizes given are very rough eyeball estimates often based on distant memories, and are provided only as a general guideline of what to look for. Unless otherwise noted, our crab measurements are estimated widths of the carapace, not including the appendages, which may be much longer.

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Calappidae

These are the box crabs. They live in sandy areas, buried by day and often out on top of the sand at night. Powerful pincers are used to break up mollusk shells.


Calappa hepatica


Calappa liaoi

Calappa philargius


Cycloes granulosa

Carpiliidae


Carpilius convexus


Carpilius maculatus


Corystidae


Gomeza bicornis


Dorippidae


Dorippe frascone


Dorippe frascone

Dromiidae

The rear pair of legs of dromiid crabs is situated so that they can be used to hold something over the crab's shell, often a sponge but sometimes tunicates, clumps of soft coral, algae or any other item that may help to shield the crab from predators. Because there are numerous species in the family and details of the crab are difficult to observe, most of our identifications are tentative.


Tumidodromia dormia

Tumidodromia sp. 1

Tumidodromia sp. 1

Epialtidae


Cyclocoeloma tuberculatum


Hoplophrys oatesii

Huenia sp. 1


Huenia sp. 2

Hyastenus bispinosus

Hyastenus sp. 1

Hyastenus sp. 2

Menethius monoceros

Menaethius orientalis

Phalangipus hystrix

Xenocarcinus conicus

Xenocarcinus tuberculatus

Xenocarcinus tuberculatus

Homolidae


Latreillopsis cf bispinosa


Inachidae

Many of these IDs are highly uncertain, particularly among the Achaeus and Oncinopus species.


Achaeus sp. 1


Achaeus sp. 2

Achaeus sp. 3


Achaeus sp. 4

Camposcia retusa

Oncinopus sp. 1

Oncinopus sp. 2

Oncinopus sp. 3

Oncinopus sp. 4

Oncinopus sp. 5

Leucosiidae


Alox niaspela


Arcania novemspinosa

Arcania tropicalis


Leucosia anatum

Leucosia rubripalma

Leucosia sp. 1

Leucosia sp. 2

Myra grandis

Myra cf tumidospina

Nucia speciosa

Raylilia uenoi

Urnalana purarensis

Urnalana sp. 1

Urnalana sp. 1

Urnalana sp. 1

Majidae


Micippa philyra


Micippa philyra

Micippa sp. 3


Schizophrys sp. 1

Palicidae


Exopalicus maculatus

Parthenopidae


Cryptopodia dorsalis


Parthenope longimanus

Pseudolambrus sp. 1


Rhinolambrus contrarius

Rhinolambrus pelagicus

Rhinolambrus rudis

Pilumnidae


Pilumnus taeniola

Zebrida adamsii

Portunidae

Swimming crabs.


Caphyra loevis

Caphyra sp. 1

Charybdis amboinensis

Charybdis granulata

Charybdis natator

Charybdis sp. 1

Cycloachelous granulatus

Gonioinfradens paucidentatus

Goniosupradens? sp. 1

Lissocarcinus arkati

Lissocarcinus laevis

Lissocarcinus polybioides

Lupocycloporus cf gracilimanus

Lupocyclus philippinensis

Monomia gladiator

Monomia cf gladiator

Monomia lucida

Monomia petrea

Portunus pelagicus

Thalamita sp. 1

Thalamita sp. 2

Thranita pseudopelsarti

Portunidae sp. 2

Portunidae sp. 3

Portunidae sp. 4

Portunidae sp. 5

Portunidae sp. 6

Trierarchus rotundifrons

Trapeziidae and Tetraliidae


Quadrella maculosa

Tetralia glaberrima

Tetralia nigrolineata

Trapezia cymodoce

Xanthidae


Demania cultripes


Demania splendida

Euxanthus exsculptus


Lybia tessellata

Trichia cf dromiaeformis

Xanthidae sp. 1

Family uncertain


Crab sp. 1

Unknown decorator crab


Unknown decorator crab


Unknown decorator crab


Unknown decorator crab

Unknown decorator crab

Unknown decorator crab

Unknown decorator crab

Unknown decorator crab

Unknown decorator crab

Unknown decorator crab

Unknown decorator crab

Unknown decorator crab

We thank the knowledgeable people in the Facebook Crustacean Identification Group for suggestions on several of these species.

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