LEUCOSIIDAE Samouelle, 1819

Muñoz, Isabel, García-Isarch, Eva & Cuesta, Jose A., 2021, Annotated and updated checklist of marine crabs (Decapoda: Brachyura) of Mozambique supported by morphological and molecular data from shelf and slope species of the “ MOZAMBIQUE ” surveys, Zootaxa 5056 (1), pp. 1-67 : 26

Family LEUCOSIIDAE Samouelle, 1819

Leucosiidae is one of the most extensive family of crabs. It comprises three subfamilies, Cryptocneminae Stimpson, Ebaliinae Stimpson , and Leucosiinae Samouelle , with a total of 71 genera and 488 species ( Davie et al, 2015a). They have similar shapes, usually small with rounded carapace, hence they are known as nut or pebble crabs ( Poore 2004; Ward & Rainer 1988). According to Emmerson (2016b,c), ten species of Leucosiidae belonging to the three subfamilies have been cited in Mozambique waters, most of them in intertidal or shallow waters. This group has been intensively studied in recent years, with the description of new genera and species, and replacement of several species ( Galil 2003a,b,c, 2005,b, 2006a,b, 2009; Galil & Ng 2010).