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the gastropods and hermit crabs, but most importantly on the frequency of organisms that prey on gastropods but leave the shells intact. A hermit crab with a shell which is too tight cannot grow as fast as hermit crabs with well-fitting shells, and is more likely to be eaten. Although hermit crabs need to change shells regularly, they will not abandon their old shell unless they have a larger and newer one to change into and unless they feel safe.
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As the hermit crabs grow, they must exchange their shell for a larger one. Since intact gastropod shells are not an unlimited resource, there is frequently strong competition for the available shells, with hermit crabs fighting over shells. The availability of empty shells depends on the abundance of
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Australian land hermit crabs are light brown to pale brown in colour, with two dark ovals on the front of the head. Their eyestalks are long and are the same colour as the body. Each claw has a dark vertical stripe. They have dark brown spots all over the legs. The abdomen is short and fat.
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200:. It is a nocturnal, omnivorous crustacean. They are gregarious and thrive in tropical areas near water.
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A. Harvey & R. Brodie (2001). "Development of the terrestrial hermit crab,
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252:) in appearance and they both have a shortened aquatic development stage.
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Crustacea: Malocostraca: Eucarida (Part 2), Decapoda: Anomura, Brachyura
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length of 40 millimetres (1.6 in). They closely resemble the
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436:. Volume 19 of Zoological catalogue of Australia, Australia.
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10.1651/0278-0372(2001)021[0715:LDOTLH]2.0.CO;2
478:
Department of the
Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts
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545:A Field Guide to Crustaceans of Australian Waters
470:(Family Coenobitidae). Terrestrial Hermit Crab"
8:
543:Diana S. Jones & Gary J. Morgan (1994).
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29:
20:
459:
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420:
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208:The Australian land hermit crab is
765:Marine fauna of Northern Australia
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236:The Australian land hermit crab (
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272:land hermit crab from Australia.
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1:
775:Crustaceans described in 1909
498:Journal of Crustacean Biology
428:P. J. F. Davie, ed. (2002).
24:Australian land hermit crab
276:The preferred seashells of
186:Australian land hermit crab
791:
549:Chatswood, New South Wales
553:Western Australian Museum
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39:Scientific classification
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28:
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760:Crustaceans of Australia
770:Terrestrial crustaceans
495:, in the laboratory".
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212:to northern parts of
16:Species of crustacean
628:Coenobita_variabilis
614:Coenobita variabilis
584:Coenobita variabilis
493:Coenobita compressus
468:Coenobita variabilis
338:Coenobita variabilis
270:Coenobita variabilis
250:Coenobita compressus
238:Coenobita variabilis
190:Coenobita variabilis
168:Coenobita variabilis
246:Pacific hermit crab
216:including northern
196:species, native to
192:) is a terrestrial
440:. pp. 33–35.
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222:Northern Territory
150:C. variabilis
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701:Open Tree of Life
576:Taxon identifiers
447:978-0-643-06792-9
218:Western Australia
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334:Gastropod shells
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537:Further reading
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505:(3): 715–732.
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430:"Coenobitidae"
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159:Binomial name
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755:Hermit crabs
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204:Distribution
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126:Coenobitidae
112:Infraorder:
86:Malacostraca
18:
714:SeaLifeBase
662:iNaturalist
608:Wikispecies
474:SpeciesBank
295:Phasianella
268:Photo of a
194:hermit crab
106:Pleocyemata
749:Categories
416:References
325:rice snail
226:Queensland
102:Suborder:
76:Arthropoda
519:0278-0372
354:Babylonia
317:seashells
283:Babylonia
214:Australia
198:Australia
175:McCulloch
144:Species:
137:Coenobita
62:Kingdom:
56:Eukaryota
680:10881868
599:Q2339935
593:Wikidata
527:85928163
336:used by
280:include
242:carapace
122:Family:
96:Decapoda
72:Phylum:
66:Animalia
52:Domain:
719:2380809
706:2974726
693:1547440
654:5716742
232:Biology
210:endemic
132:Genus:
116:Anomura
92:Order:
82:Class:
732:368198
667:700294
641:934391
559:
525:
517:
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402:Nerita
313:Turban
289:Nerita
177:, 1909
727:WoRMS
675:IRMNG
523:S2CID
386:Turbo
370:Tonna
307:Tonna
301:Thais
688:NCBI
649:GBIF
636:BOLD
557:ISBN
515:ISSN
442:ISBN
323:and
310:and
184:The
623:AFD
507:doi
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248:(
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
