The Coenobitidae are the family of terrestrialhermit 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.
Hamasaki, K., Iizuka, C., Sanda, T., Imai, H. and Kitada, S. (2017), Phylogeny and phylogeography of the land hermit crab Coenobita purpureus (Decapoda: Anomura: Coenobitidae) in the Northwestern Pacific Region. Mar Ecol, 38: e12369. doi:10.1111/maec.12369
External links
Media related to Coenobitidae at Wikimedia Commons
