Leptuca musica

Musical fiddler crab
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Malacostraca
Order:	Decapoda
Suborder:	Pleocyemata
Infraorder:	Brachyura
Family:	Ocypodidae
Subfamily:	Gelasiminae
Genus:	Leptuca
Species:	L. musica
Binomial name
Leptuca musica (Rathbun, 1914)
Synonyms
Uca musica (basionym)

Leptuca musica, commonly known as the musical fiddler crab, is a species of fiddler crab native to Baja California and the Gulf of California in Mexico.[1]

Taxonomy

Previously a member of the genus Uca, the species was transferred in 2016 to the genus Leptuca when Leptuca was promoted from subgenus to genus level.[2][3] At one time, the species was considered a subspecies of the same species with L. terpsichores.[1]

Description

The adult carapace is usually around 10.5–11 mm wide and is cylindrical.[1] The minor cheliped is small in both sexes and has a wide gape.[1]

Similar species

L. musica is somewhat larger than L. terpsichores.[1] The tubercles on the outer manus are larger and they are more numerous along the anterior carapace.[1] The gape in the major cheliped is more serrate and the gape in the minor cheliped is slightly wider.[1]

References

1. Crane, Jocelyn (1975). Fiddler Crabs of the World. Ocypodidae: Genus Uca (PDF). New Jersey, USA: Princeton University Press.
2. 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" (PDF). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 64: 139–175.
3. 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): 729–738. doi:10.1093/jcbiol/ruz057.