Pagurus impressus
| Pagurus impressus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Pagurus impressus in the shell of a Cinctura hunteria | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Decapoda |
| Suborder: | Pleocyemata |
| Infraorder: | Anomura |
| Family: | Paguridae |
| Genus: | Pagurus |
| Species: | P. impressus |
| Binomial name | |
| Pagurus impressus Benedict, 1892 | |
Pagurus impressus, also known as the dimpled hermit crab or palmate hermit crab, is a species of hermit crab in the family Paguridae.[1]
Description
[edit]P. impressus is a relatively moderate sized hermit crab most easily identifiable by depressions on the dorsal side of the propodus of each chelipeds. The chelipeds are also flattened, similar to P. pollicaris, however P. pollicaris lacks the depressions. Much of P. impressus's body is reddish-brown with some white spots across the thorax and at joints. The corneas are black with translucent yellow covers attached to dark brown eye stalks. The antennae are yellow.[2]
Distribution and habitat
[edit]The known range of P. impressus is from the shores of Diamond Shoals, North Carolina in the western Atlantic to Port Aransas, Texas in the Gulf of Mexico.[3]
Within it's known range, P. impressus is often found on sandy substrates. The hermit crab is known to inhabit seagrass beds and dock pilings in intertidal and subtidal depths.[2]
Ecology
[edit]While P. impressus is often found in the shells of large gastropods, it may also use sponges instead and is one of the best studied hermit crabs to do so. The process tends to start with the hermit crab using a shell covered in an epibiotic sponge. As the sponge outgrows the shell, the hermit crab continues to live in a tunnel formed within the sponges. Some of the sponges P. impressus is known to live with include Suberites domuncula and Pseudospongosorites suberitoides.[4][5] When in a laboratory setting, the hermit crab is known to prefer gastropod shells over sponges, possibly due to sponge shells being more affected by wave energy. Shells containing P. impressus may also be shared with other epibiota including tricolor anemone, Calliactis tricolor, and snail fur, Hydractinia echinata.[6]
References
[edit]- ↑ "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Pagurus impressus (Benedict, 1892)". www.marinespecies.org. Retrieved 2026-08-23.
- 1 2 Strasser, Karen; Price, W. Wayne (1999-01-01). "An Annotated Checklist and Key to Hermit Crabs of Tampa Bay, Florida, and Surrounding Waters". Gulf and Caribbean Research. 11 (1): 33–50. doi:10.18785/grr.1101.06. ISSN 1528-0470.
- ↑ Nizinski, M.S. (2003). "Annotated checklist of decapod crustaceans of Atlantic coastal and continental shelf waters of the United States". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 116 (1): 96–157.
- ↑ Sandford, Floyd (1995). "Sponge/Shell Switching by Hermit Crabs, Pagurus impressus". Invertebrate Biology. 114 (1): 73–78. Bibcode:1995InvBi.114...73S. doi:10.2307/3226955. ISSN 1077-8306. JSTOR 3226955.
- ↑ Sandford, Floyd (2001-11-01). "Shared use of a single hermit crab sponge by two individual Pagurus impressus". Bulletin of Marine Science. 69 (3): 1239–1242.
- ↑ Sandford, Floyd (2003). "Population dynamics and epibiont associations of hermit crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Paguroidea) on Dog Island, Florida". Memoirs of Museum Victoria. 60 (1): 45–52. doi:10.24199/j.mmv.2003.60.6.