Austruca mjoebergi

Austruca mjoebergi is a species of fiddler crab discovered by and named after the Swedish zoologist Eric Mjöberg (1882–1938), member of a Swedish scientific expedition to Australia in the early 1900s.

Austruca mjoebergi
Austruca mjoebergi, banana fiddler crab, Australia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Infraorder: Brachyura
Family: Ocypodidae
Subfamily: Gelasiminae
Tribe: Gelasimni
Genus: Austruca
Species:
A. mjoebergi
Binomial name
Austruca mjoebergi
(Rathbun, 1924)[1]

The crab is found along the north and northwest coast of Australia (approximately from Dampier to the Gulf of Carpentaria and on Papua New Guinea's northwest coast).[2]

Austruca mjoebergi was formerly in the genus Uca, but in 2016 it was placed in the genus Austruca, a former subgenus of Uca.[3][4][5]

Claw bluffing

Male Austruca mjoebergi rely heavily on their enlarged claw to signal dominance and fighting prowess. Crabs which lose their large claw will occasionally regenerate a lighter, cheaper claw (requiring less energy to produce). Research has shown that, while crabs with these 'cheap' claws are worse fighters than crabs with strong claws of a similar size, they are just as effective at intimidating other crabs based on claw size alone.[6][7]

References
  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.
  2. "Austruca mjoebergi". Fiddler Crabs. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  3. Shih, Hsi-Te; Ng, Peter K. L.; Davie, Peter J. F.; Schubart, Christoph D.; et al. (2016). "Systematics of the family Ocypodidae Rafinesque, 1815 (Crustacea: Brachyura), based on phylogenetic relationships, with a reorganization of subfamily rankings and a review of the taxonomic status of Uca Leach, 1814, sensu lato and its subgenera". The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 64.
  4. Rosenberg, Michael S. (2019). "A fresh look at the biodiversity lexicon for fiddler crabs (Decapoda: Brachyura: Ocypodidae). Part 1: Taxonomy". Journal of Crustacean Biology. 39 (6).
  5. "WoRMS taxon details, Austruca mjoebergi (Rathbun, 1924)". World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  6. British Ecological Society (November 13, 2008). "Fiddler crabs reveal honesty is not always the best policy". University of New South Wales. Retrieved November 19, 2008.
  7. Simon P. Lailvaux; Leeann T. Reaney & Patricia R. Y. Backwell (2009). "Regenerated claws dishonestly signal performance and fighting ability in the fiddler crab Uca mjoebergi". Functional Ecology. 23 (2): 359–366. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2435.2008.01501.x.
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