Paguroidea

Hermit crabs are anomuran decapod crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea that have adapted to occupy empty scavenged gastropod shells to protect their fragile abdomens. There are over 800 species of hermit crab, most of which possess an asymmetric abdomen concealed by a snug-fitting shell. Hermit crabs' soft (non-calcified) abdominal exoskeleton means they must occupy shelter produced by other organisms or risk being defenseless.

Paguroidea

H. Zell · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
hermit crabPBDB
Sits inside
AnomuraPBDB
Diet
detritivorePBDB
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Decapoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Malacostraca
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Malacostraca

Time the record covers

At least 199 million years on record.

The record covers at least 199.5 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 201.4 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Triassic — about 0 of 388 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 24 of 388 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 15 of 388 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 27 of 388 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 20 of 388 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 15 of 388 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 8 of 388 occurrencesEocene — about 113 of 388 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 13 of 388 occurrencesMiocene — about 89 of 388 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 23 of 388 occurrencesPleistocene — about 14 of 388 occurrences205–199 Mya — about 2 occurrences199–192 Mya — about 4 occurrences192–185 Mya — about 13 occurrences185–178 Mya — about 4 occurrences178–171 Mya — about 2 occurrences171–164 Mya — about 6 occurrences164–157 Mya — about 17 occurrences157–151 Mya — about 9 occurrences151–144 Mya — about 8 occurrences144–137 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences137–130 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences130–123 Mya — about 2 occurrences123–116 Mya — about 4 occurrences116–110 Mya — about 5 occurrences110–103 Mya — about 5 occurrences103–96 Mya — about 3 occurrences96–89 Mya — about 2 occurrences89–82 Mya — about 2 occurrences82–75 Mya — about 3 occurrences75–68 Mya — about 5 occurrences68–62 Mya — about 8 occurrences62–55 Mya — about 8 occurrences55–48 Mya — about 26 occurrences48–41 Mya — about 48 occurrences41–34 Mya — about 32 occurrences34–27 Mya — about 11 occurrences27–21 Mya — about 10 occurrences21–14 Mya — about 19 occurrences14–6.8 Mya — about 52 occurrences6.8–0 Mya — about 75 occurrences199.5 Mya11.7 ka205 Mya0 Mya

388 occurrences of Paguroidea on record, most of them in the Eocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

388 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

94 formations

Serraduy — 42.32°N, 0.54°EAmaltheenton — 49.62°N, 11.06°EAmaltheenton — 49.27°N, 11.46°EAmaltheenton — 49.79°N, 11.04°EAmaltheenton — 48.85°N, 9.99°EAmaltheenton — 48.65°N, 9.46°EAmaltheenton — 48.54°N, 9.28°EAmaltheenton — 48.65°N, 9.20°ECercado — 19.48°N, 71.17°WCercado — 19.58°N, 71.04°WCercado — 19.46°N, 71.10°WOxford Clay — 52.33°N, 0.09°WOxford Clay — 52.55°N, 0.24°WOxford Clay — 52.55°N, 0.20°WBateque — 26.54°N, 112.75°WBateque — 26.93°N, 113.08°WBateque — 26.91°N, 113.04°WBateque — 24.17°N, 110.92°WBateque — 26.42°N, 112.58°WEguino — 42.88°N, 2.20°WUpper Coralline Limestone — 35.93°N, 14.33°EUpper Coralline Limestone — 35.92°N, 14.38°ESan Juan — 16.14°N, 92.78°WSan Juan — 16.73°N, 93.14°WGlen Rose Limestone — 29.73°N, 99.06°WGlen Rose Limestone — 30.20°N, 98.38°WGlen Rose Limestone — 29.87°N, 98.73°WGlen Rose Limestone — 29.95°N, 98.76°WSandakan — 5.86°N, 118.04°ESandakan — 5.88°N, 118.06°EMarno-Calcaires à Oolites Ferrugineuses — 47.89°N, 4.51°ECayo Agua — 9.14°N, 82.01°WCayo Agua — 9.17°N, 82.04°WUntere Felsenkalke — 47.93°N, 8.67°EFutuna — 18.96°S, 178.95°WArguis — 42.39°N, 0.68°WArguis — 42.31°N, 0.34°WPinczow — 50.47°N, 20.80°EMount Laurel — 40.26°N, 74.27°WNdalithoni Limestone — 17.23°S, 178.95°ECastell'Arquato — 44.86°N, 9.88°EGurabo — 19.47°N, 71.17°WGurabo — 19.53°N, 71.29°WNdalithoni — 17.24°S, 178.94°WAldwell — 48.22°N, 124.44°WChipola — 30.50°N, 85.20°WAgueguexquite — 18.07°N, 94.24°WAgueguexquite — 18.08°N, 94.34°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Paguroidea has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 70 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 211 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Paguroidea and its relatives

Eocene

Where Paguroidea and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

2,894 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 196 sites for Paguroidea, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

140 references

Each of the 388 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 128 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Paguroidea

Credit
H. Zell
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAnomura through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Latreille 1802