Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-31T23:09:01.697Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

11 - EPILOGUE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2010

Get access

Summary

As intended, this book has gathered a wealth of information concerning many aspects of the biology of land crabs. Most chapters have taken a comparative approach, often starting with the biology of aquatic crabs and showing how the development of morphological, physiological, and behavioral characters have allowed penetration into, and eventual colonization of, the terrestrial habitat. One of the goals of the editors in planning this book was to seek a better understanding of the evolution of terrestriality within decapods. Thus, a reexamination of this evolutionary trend will serve as a suitable epilogue.

From examination of this book's chapters it is clear that, under the descriptor “land crabs, ” the various contributors have considered many different groups of crabs. These groups vary considerably both in the terrestrial adaptations they exhibit as well as in their ability to move into the terrestrial habitat. The “failure” to achieve a clear definition of what constitutes a “land crab” is, in fact, no disadvantage, for it correctly causes us to focus on a continuum of crabs showing progressively greater levels of terrestrial adaptation. An approach that examines a continuum of species not only enhances understanding of the evolution of terrestriality in the land crabs, but may also provide insights into the radiations of protoinsects and vertebrates.

Terrestrial crabs appeared only in relatively recent geologic times, especially when compared with the land colonization by vertebrates or protoinsects. Although fossil evidence is extremely sparse, families of crabs with living species in terrestrial habitats appear in the fossil record no earlier than the Paleocene or late Cretaceous (Chapter 2).

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×