Carcinisation
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Carcinisation is a form of convergent evolution in which non-crab crustaceans evolve a crab-like body plan. The term was introduced into evolutionary biology by Lancelot Alexander Borradaile, who desc
Porcelain crabs resemble true crabs, but are more closely related to squat lobsters and hermit crabs.
A raninid true crab preserved specimen.
Anomura
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Anomura is a group of decapod crustaceans, including hermit crabs and others. Several groups such as the king crabs and porcelain crabs within the Anomura have independently undergone carcinisation, a
Carcinisation
…Borradaile, who described it in 1916 as "the many attempts of Nature to evolve a crab". Carcinisation has been observed most often in species of infraorder Anomura, and is characterized by a flattened and widened carapace, fused sternites, and a bent and flattened pleon. It is hypothesized to offer the selective…
Dardanus megistos 2
Aegla sp. from Nahuel Huapi Lake, Bariloche, Argentina
Eumunida picta
Munidopsis tridentata