Tuerkayana hirtipes
Japanese Name: オカガニ
Chinese Name: 毛足圓盤蟹
English Name: Pacific land crab
Origin: Widely distributed throughout the tropical Indo-Pacific region
The Pacific Land Crab (Tuerkayana hirtipes) has a dark carapace, ranging from dark brown to black. Its eyes are also black, and the hairy area on its cheeks is rectangular in shape. It mainly inhabits inland coastal forests, where the bottoms of their burrows often hold fresh water. These crabs migrate to the coast to spawn during summer spring tides, typically at night. However, due to coastal habitat destruction and the construction of roads along shorelines, roadkill incidents have increased in recent years, leading to a sharp population decline.
Tuerkayana hirtipes belongs to the family Gecarcinidae, a group of true land crabs. In the Ryukyu Islands, the following six species of land crabs are known to occur:
- Tuerkayana hirtipes
- Cardisoma carnifex
- Tuerkayana rotundum
- Gecarcoidea lalandii
- Epigrapsus notatus
- Epigrapsus politus
In a 2018 study, Tuerkayana hirtipes and Tuerkayana rotundum were reassigned to the newly established genus Tuerkayana.
Reference:
Warriors of the Coastal Forest (Chinese website)
Distribution of Land Crabs around Japan (Japanese website)