Coenobita
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page.
|
| Coenobita | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| Species | ||||||||||||||||||
|
C. brevimanus |
The genus Coenobita contains the thirteen species of terrestrial hermit crabs. They are able to live on land because of their modified gills, although they still require a warm, humid environment. They can live several miles from water in moist forests and jungles.
Land hermit crabs live in colonies of 100 and more, feeding on plant and animal matter. They are omnivorous scavengers which eat plant and animal matter, including fallen fruit, rotting wood, decaying animals and fish. Land hermit crabs will also eat their old exoskeleton after it has molted. This adds up calcium for its new outer shell.
Coenobita are named after and share a name with the original Latin term for the Cenobitic monastic order, derived from the Greek κοινός and βίος (koinos and bios, meaning "common" and "life"). Ironically, Cenobitic monks stress the value of communal living; eremitic monastic orders are those in favour of hermitic lifestyles.
[edit] Terrestrial hermit crabs as pets
The land hermit crabs most commonly kept as pets in the United States are the Caribbean hermit crab (Coenobita clypeatus, sometimes called the "purple pincher") and the Ecuadorian hermit crab (Coenobita compressus). Other species such as Coenobita brevimanus, Coenobita rugosus, Coenobita perlatus and Coenobita cavipes are slowly becoming equally common. In Australia, the only land hermit crabs kept as pets were the Australian land hermit crab (Coenobita variabilis) and the strawberry land hermit crab (Coenobita perlatus), which are native to Australia, Indonesia and other islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are sold as pets in Australia.
[edit] External links
- Hermit Crab Central: Land Hermit Crab Care and Research
- Distribution of coenobita
- Overview of the species of land hermit crabs and their habitat, food, larval development, body mass
- Hermit crab anatomy
- The anatomy of the land hermit crab
- The life-cycle of a land hermit crab
- The loss and regeneration of limbs
- How old is my hermit crab?
- Land hermit crab photos
- Photos of several species of land hermit crabs
- Hermit Crab Association forums
- Hermit Crab Paradise
