Cardisoma crassum
species of crustacean
Cardisoma crassum, known as the mouthless crab, is a species of terrestrial crab found in the coastal tropical eastern Pacific from Baja California to Peru.
Classification
Cardisoma crassum is in the family Gecarcinidae, also known as the land crabs. Sidney Irving Smith described the species in 1870.
Distribution and habitat
Mouthless crabs live in the eastern Pacific region, just one of three species of land crabs found there. They are distributed from Baja California and the neighbouring Gulf of California southwards to Peru and sometimes into Chile. Cardisoma crassum is common among mangrove roots, where it builds its burrow. Burrows dug by Cardisoma crassum are complex, often over 2 meters deep and located in high areas of mangroves with a water reservoir at the bottom of the burrow. A new species of sand fly in the genus Culicoides was found to be living and breeding in mouthless crabs' burrows, and was subbed C. cancer due to the crab connection.
Description
Cardisoma crassum is a fairly small species with a carapace broader than it is long. Smith's original description measured three males and one female; the average male had a carapace measuring 53.7 mm × 65.4 mm (2.11 in × 2.57 in), measured in length × width.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Cardisoma crassum” is species of crustacean. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Cardisoma, crassum and species, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “species of crustacean” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 27, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q5038751. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1870.
A general summary may omit uncertainty, sample limits or methodological disagreement that is explicit in the technical record. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Cardisoma crassum” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.