Johngarthia planata

Johngarthia planata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Infraorder: Brachyura
Superfamily: Grapsoidea
Family: Gecarcinidae
Genus: Johngarthia
Species: J. planata
Binomial name
Johngarthia planata
(Stimpson, 1860)
Synonyms [1]

Gecarcinus planatus Stimpson, 1860

Johngarthia planata, sometimes known as the Clipperton crab, is a species of bright orange land crab that lives on Clipperton Island in the eastern Pacific; on Malpelo Island, west of Colombia; and on Socorro Island in the Revillagigedo Islands off Mexico, 900 km north of Clipperton.[2] It feeds on seaweed (algae), coconut leaves and sometimes carrion.

The introduction of pigs on Clipperton Island by guano miners at the beginning of the 20th century reduced the crab population: this in turn allowed grassland to gradually cover about 80 percent of the land surface[3]. The elimination of these pigs in 1958 — as the result of a personal project by Kenneth E. Stager,[4] — has caused most of this vegetation to disappear, resulting in the return of millions of J. planata.[5]

Johngarthia planata, photographed in the Ménagerie du Jardin des plantes, Paris, France

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Peter K. L. Ng; Danièle Guinot; Peter J. F. Davie (2008). "Systema Brachyurorum: Part I. An annotated checklist of extant Brachyuran crabs of the world" (PDF). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 17: 1–286. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-06.
  2. ↑ Davie, P. (2012). Johngarthia planata (Stimpson, 1860). World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  3. ↑ Sachet, Marie-Hélène (1962). Geography and land ecology of Clipperton Island. Pacific Science Board, National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council.
  4. ↑ Pitman, Robert L.; Lisa T. Ballance; Charly Bost (2005). "Clipperton Island: pig sty, rat hole and booby prize" (PDF). Marine Ornithology. 33 (2): 193–194.
  5. ↑ Davie, P. (2015). P. Bouchet, S. Gofas & G. Rosenberg, eds. "Johngarthia planata (Stimpson, 1860)". World Marine Mollusca database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
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