Hermit Crabs Id

[scolby]

I collected a bunch of hermit crabs from the florida keys, mainly blue-legged. Other then that I have 2 other kinds that I cant identify. I tried several times to get pictures but its just not any good without a macro lens. Anyway, one kind is much larger then the blue legged, and they are mostly red, with spots on their bodies that are white. Another one I kept finding were also a larger species, they are sort of green with faint black pin stripes going vertically up and down the legs. I know its hard to ID off of a description but I thought maybe someone one here might know a lot about the florida keys. Any ideas?

Another thing, what kind of snails are the ones with dark brown cone shaped shells, that blue legged hermit crabs are most commonly in?

 

[SkiFletch]

Donya's your hermit crab man

 

[Donya]

I collected a bunch of hermit crabs from the florida keys, mainly blue-legged. Other then that I have 2 other kinds that I cant identify. I tried several times to get pictures but its just not any good without a macro lens. Anyway, one kind is much larger then the blue legged, and they are mostly red, with spots on their bodies that are white. Another one I kept finding were also a larger species, they are sort of green with faint black pin stripes going vertically up and down the legs. I know its hard to ID off of a description but I thought maybe someone one here might know a lot about the florida keys. Any ideas?

Tough to ID from the descriptions. For large species in the south, one of the more abundant possibilities is Clibanarius vittatus. That species fully dominates in many areas of the gulf and stretch a ways up the east coast as well. They have legs with black stripes, and the color inbetween can range from a dull green-ish brown to a brighter, more red/maroon color. The claw-bearing arms generally are stripeless but have mottling in a lighter color. Antenae and short feelers are a dull brown. Max size for C. vittatus seems to be around 4" legs, taking shells larger than that.

I'm wondering if the red & spotty species you're seeing could be immature Dardanus megistos. They are generally very hairy as well, although some seem to be less so than others. The range for those guys is right, although they get quite large. The largest I have seen required adult queen conch shells.

Be warned, if you do have C. vittatus and D. megistos, you'll probably need a species tank for each one. Having kept vittatus myself, I would not trust them with any smaller hermits or other species and definitely not in a community tank or reef tank. Strangely vittatus is a species that doesn't seem to mind being crowded and is very peaceful with itself once a pecking order gets established (prior to that there may be some lost or damaged limbs). The vittatus would probably be no match for a D. megistos of equal or greater size though. Although it is a species I haven't kept myself, having seen a few D. megistos "store pets" and the damage htey've caused, it would seem that one individual can get large & mean enough that it will claim an entire tank for itself.

Clibanarius vittatus
- an old one of mine from the gulf: [URL="http/img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/kwi...male_hermit.jpg"]http/img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/kwi...male_hermit.jpg[/URL]
- picture showing the claws better: [URL="http/k41.pbase.com/o6/07/758307/1/858676...METCRABP1RW.jpg"]http/k41.pbase.com/o6/07/758307/1/858676...METCRABP1RW.jpg[/URL]

Dardanus megistos: [URL="http/decapoda.free.fr/images/anomura/dar...iti-bacchet.jpg"]http/decapoda.free.fr/images/anomura/dar...iti-bacchet.jpg[/URL]

Another thing, what kind of snails are the ones with dark brown cone shaped shells, that blue legged hermit crabs are most commonly in?

Would really need a picture to say.


EDIT: I screwed up my C. vittatus description somehow. The legs are dark with LIGHT stripes running lengthwise. The darker color is the one that can range from dark muddy colors to redish.

 

[scolby]

I had a feeling they wouldn't be compatible.... I'll try to find pictures of them on the internet instead and post them to be sure. thanks

 

[Donya]

I should make a correction to what I wrote about Dardanus megistos' native range. I'm having doubts now whether the atlantic range is correct, since I realized there is also another species, Paguristes punticeps, that goes under the same types of common names: white spotted hermit, white speckled hermit, etc. Many of the sources I've seen for both species' ranges do not include photos and use primarily the common names, so the two could be confused in some cases. Paguristes punticeps is also smaller than Dardanus megistos, although I don't know by how much. I've read and heard reports in the past of Dardanus megistos in the Atlantic (FL and the Caribbean as sources of collection), but if those reports are correct, I have to wonder whether that's part of the species's native range since it seems the majority of certain D. megistos IDs come from the Indo-Pacific region.