Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 18, 2026

Grapsidae

The Grapsidae are a family of crabs known variously as marsh crabs, shore crabs, or talon crabs. The family has not been confirmed to form a monophyletic group and some taxa may belong in other families. They are found along the shore among rocks, in estuaries, marshes, and in some cases pelagic among drifting seaweeds and flotsam.

Last revised
Jul 18, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
276 w
Citations
5
Source
Grapsidae
Grapsus grapsus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Infraorder: Brachyura
Superfamily: Grapsoidea
Family: Grapsidae
Macleay, 1838 1
Genera

See text

The Grapsidae are a family of crabs known variously as marsh crabs, shore crabs, or talon crabs.1 The family has not been confirmed to form a monophyletic group and some taxa may belong in other families.2 They are found along the shore among rocks, in estuaries, marshes, and in some cases pelagic among drifting seaweeds and flotsam.

Genera

A number of taxa, formerly treated as subfamilies of the family Grapsidae are now considered families in their own right, including the Varunidae and Plagusiidae.3 Forty species and ten genera remain in the family, two of the genera known only from fossils:3

References

References

  1. "Grapsidae". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved November 1, 2010.
  2. C. D. Schubart; S. Cannicci; M. Vannini; S. Fratini (2006). "Molecular phylogeny of grapsoid crabs (Decapoda, Brachyura) and allies based on two mitochondrial genes and a proposal for refraining from current superfamily classification" (PDF). Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. 44 (3): 193–199. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0469.2006.00354.x. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-19.
  3. Sammy De Grave; N. Dean Pentcheff; Shane T. Ahyong; et al. (2009). "A classification of living and fossil genera of decapod crustaceans" (PDF). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. Suppl. 21: 1–109. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-06.
External links
  • Media related to Grapsidae at Wikimedia Commons