Bythograeidae

The Bythograeidae are a small family of blind crabs which live around hydrothermal vents. The family contains 16 species in six genera.[1][2] Their relationships to other crabs are unclear.[3] They are believed to eat bacteria and other vent organisms. Bythograeidae are a monophyletic, sister taxon of the superfamily Xanthoidea which split to inhabit hydrothermal vents around the Eocene.[4][5]

Bythograeidae
Gandalfus yunohana
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Infraorder: Brachyura
Subsection: Heterotremata
Superfamily: Bythograeoidea
Williams, 1980
Family: Bythograeidae
Williams, 1980
Genera

Origins

Due to the lack of fossils found in this group the exact date of origin of Bythograeidae remains unknown. It has been suggested that bythograeidae do not originate from an ancient hydrothermal bathyal groups but instead arose from brachyuran stock that was adapted to shallow hydrothermal vents and then transitioned to deep sea hydrothermal vents around the Eocene.[6]

A consortium of Cyanagraea praedator crabs in an area of hydrothermal activity

Distribution

Bythograeidae are almost exclusively found in the East Pacific Rise. Some exceptions include Austinograea alayseae, Austinograea williamsi and the genus Gandalfus which are found in the western Pacific and Austinograea rodriguezensis which is found only in the Central Indian Ridge.[7]

Ecology

The hydrothermal vents where these crabs live are typically short lived, lasting from 10 to 100 years. These are extreme environments, with high temperatures, high concentrations of sulphides, heavy metals, carbon dioxide and an acidic environment.[8] At this depth there is also limited access to light making photosynthesis nearly impossible. Instead, organisms rely on Chemosynthetic bacteria to sustain the vast amounts of life in Chemotrophic ecosystems.[9]

Bythograeidae are omnivorous scavengers, they are believed to eat bacteria and other vent organisms however they can also be found far from active sites.

Species
  • Genus Allograea Guinot, Hurtado & Vrijenhoek, 2002
    • Allograea tomentosa Guinot, Hurtado & Vrijenhoek, 2002
  • Genus Austinograea Hessler & Martin, 1989
    • Austinograea alayseae Guinot, 1990
    • Austinograea hourdezi Guinot & Segonzac, 2018
    • Austinograea jolliveti Guinot & Segonzac, 2018
    • Austinograea rodriguezensis Tsuchida & Hashimoto, 2002
    • Austinograea williamsi Hessler & Martin, 1989
  • Genus Bythograea Williams, 1980
    • Austinograea rodriguezensis
      Bythograea galapagensis Guinot & Hurtado, 2003
    • Bythograea intermedia Saint Laurent, 1988
    • Bythograea laubieri Guinot & Segonzac, 1997
    • Bythograea microps Saint Laurent, 1984
    • Bythograea thermydron Williams, 1980
    • Bythograea vrijenhoeki Guinot & Hurtado, 2003
  • Genus Cyanagraea Saint Laurent, 1984
  • Genus Gandalfus McLay, 2007
  • Austinograea alayseae
    Genus Segonzacia Guinot, 1989
    • Segonzacia mesatlantica (Williams, 1988)

References
Wikispecies has information related to Bythograeidae.
  1. Colin McLay (2007). "New crabs from hydrothermal vents of the Kermadec Ridge submarine volcanoes, New Zealand: Gandalfus gen. nov. (Bythograeidae) and Xenograpsus (Varunidae) (Decapoda: Brachyura)" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1524: 1–22. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1524.1.1.
  2. P. Davie (2010). "Bythograeidae Dana, 1852". World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved December 6, 2010.
  3. J. W. Martin & G. E. Davis (2001). An Updated Classification of the Recent Crustacea (PDF). Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. pp. 1–132.
  4. von Sternberg, R.; Cumberlidge, N.; Rodriguez, G. (March 1999). "On the marine sister groups of the freshwater crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura)". Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. 37 (1): 19–38. doi:10.1046/j.1439-0469.1999.95092.x. ISSN 0947-5745.
  5. Lee, Won-Kyung; Kim, Se-Joo; Hou, Bo Kyeng; Dover, Cindy Lee Van; Ju, Se-Jong (2019-04-24). "Population genetic differentiation of the hydrothermal vent crab Austinograea alayseae (Crustacea: Bythograeidae) in the Southwest Pacific Ocean". PLOS ONE. 14 (4): e0215829. Bibcode:2019PLoSO..1415829L. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0215829. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 6481846. PMID 31017948.
  6. Tudge, Christopher; Jamieson, Barrie; Segonzac, Michel; Guinot, Daniele (1998-07-01). "Spermatozoal ultrastructure in three species of hydrothermal vent crab, in the genera Bythograea, Austinograea and Segonzacia (Decapoda, Brachyura, Bythograeidae)". Invertebrate Reproduction & Development. 34: 13–23. doi:10.1080/07924259.1998.9652349.
  7. Watanabe, Hiromi K; Chen, Chong; Kojima, Shigeaki; Kato, Shogo; Yamamoto, Hiroyuki (2020-09-01). "Population connectivity of the crab Gandalfus yunohana (Takeda, Hashimoto & Ohta, 2000) (Decapoda: Brachyura: Bythograeidae) from deep-sea hydrothermal vents in the northwestern Pacific". Journal of Crustacean Biology. 40 (5): 556–562. doi:10.1093/jcbiol/ruaa045. ISSN 0278-0372.
  8. Leignel, V.; Hurtado, L. A.; Segonzac, M. (2017-08-22). "Ecology, adaptation and acclimatisation mechanisms of Bythograeidae Williams, 1980, a unique endemic hydrothermal vent crabs family: current state of knowledge". Marine and Freshwater Research. 69 (1): 1–15. doi:10.1071/MF17007. ISSN 1448-6059.
  9. Ramirez-Llodra, E; Keith, DA (2020). "M3.7 Chemosynthetic-based-ecosystems (CBE)". In Keith, D.A.; Ferrer-Paris, J.R.; Nicholson, E.; Kingsford, R.T. (eds.). The IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology 2.0: Descriptive profiles for biomes and ecosystem functional groups. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. doi:10.2305/IUCN.CH.2020.13.en. ISBN 978-2-8317-2077-7. S2CID 241360441.
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