Coenobitidae facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Coenobitidae
Coenobita perlatus
Coconut crab, Birgus latro
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Crustacea
Class:	Malacostraca
Order:	Decapoda
Superfamily:	Paguroidea
Family:	Coenobitidae Dana, 1851
Genera
Birgus Coenobita

The Coenobitidae are the family of terrestrial hermit crabs, widely known for their land-living habits as adults. They are found in coastal tropical regions around the world and require access to the ocean to breed.

Although coenobitids are fully terrestrial as adults, they spend their marine life as planktonic larvae. Female coenobitids return to the sea to hatch their eggs and their larvae develop through planktonic zoeal stages to a megalopa, in a similar way as the marine hermit crabs. Just like these species, after settlement, terrestrial hermit crabs megalopae recognize and co-opt gastropods shells, before migrating into the land and molting to the first crab stage.

The 17 species are placed in two genera:

Image	Genus	Living species
	Coenobita Latreille, 1829	Coenobita brevimanus Dana, 1852 Coenobita carnescens Dana, 1851 Coenobita cavipes Stimpson, 1858 Coenobita clypeatus (Fabricius, 1787) Coenobita compressus H. Milne-Edwards, 1836 Coenobita longitarsis De Man, 1902 Coenobita olivieri Owen, 1839 Coenobita perlatus H. Milne-Edwards, 1837 Coenobita pseudorugosus Nakasone, 1988 Coenobita purpureus Stimpson, 1858 Coenobita rubescens Greeff, 1884 Coenobita rugosus H. Milne-Edwards, 1837 Coenobita scaevola (Forskål, 1775) Coenobita spinosus H. Milne-Edwards, 1837 Coenobita variabilis McCulloch, 1909 Coenobita violascens Heller, 1862 Coenobita lila Rahayu, Shih & Ng, 2016
	Birgus Leach, 1816	Birgus latro (Linnaeus, 1767) – coconut crab

See also

In Spanish: Coenobitidae para niños