Interspecific shell transfer by mutual predation site attendance

The hermit crabs Clibanarius vittatusand Pagurus pollicarisoverlap considerably in the species of gastropod shells occupied. Patterns of epibionts on shells suggested interspecific transfer between the crab species. In laboratory observations, however, even when crabs were highly motivated to get ne...

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Published inAnimal behaviour Vol. 51; no. 3; pp. 589 - 592
Main Authors HAZLETT, BRIAN A., RITTSCHOF, DAN, BACH, CATHERINE E.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Kent Elsevier Ltd 01.03.1996
Elsevier
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Ltd
Subjects
Animal behavior
Animal ethology
Biological and medical sciences
Clibanarius vittatus
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Invertebrates
Marine
Pagurus pollicaris
Protozoa. Invertebrata
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Shells
ANW, USA, North Carolina
Anomura
Laboratory study
Overlap
Clibanarius vittatus
Crustacea
Exchange
Marine environment
Pagurus pollicaris
Social interaction
Arthropoda
Shell(anatomy)
Decapoda
Predation
Invertebrata
Interspecific relation
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Summary:The hermit crabs Clibanarius vittatusand Pagurus pollicarisoverlap considerably in the species of gastropod shells occupied. Patterns of epibionts on shells suggested interspecific transfer between the crab species. In laboratory observations, however, even when crabs were highly motivated to get new shells, no direct transfers occurred. This lack of exchanges is correlated with different shell exchange behaviour patterns of the two crab species. When simulated snail predation sites were set up in the laboratory and in the field, indirect interspecific transfers were observed as crabs moved from occupied shells to recently vacated shells.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
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ISSN:0003-3472
1095-8282
DOI:10.1006/anbe.1996.0062