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Infra-order Brachyura, Family Varunidae

Hicks' cave crab | Orcovita hicksi  Davie & Ng, 2012

Christmas Island crabs, hicks' cave crab, orcovita hicksi, Christmas Island, Max Orchard

A small crab with a carapace up to 25 mm wide. Orcovita hicksican easily be separated from O. orchardorum, by the absence of a tuft of hair at the base of the fingers of the claws in males.

Found in tidally and freshwater influenced brackish anchialine habitats.

This species and Orcovita orchardorum are the first records of this genus from both the Indian Ocean and Australia.

Read more about Christmas Island's Hicks' cave crab in the book

"Crabs of Christmas Island" by Max Orchard

and

Davie, P. J. F. & P. K. L. Ng, 2012. Two new species of Orcovita (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Varunidae) from anchialine caves on Christmas Island, eastern Indian Ocean. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 60: 57–70.

Hicks' cave crab, crab, Christmas Island

Hicks' cave crab

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