Intraspecific color diversity and camouflage associated with ontogeny in an insular land crab

João, Marcio C. A.; Duarte, Rafael C.; Freire, Andrea S.; Pinheiro, Marcelo A. A.

doi:10.1007/s00265-023-03394-8

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 87 publications

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“…The insular land crab Johngarthia lagostoma exhibits notable intraspecific color variation during development. One study found that only small individuals (carapace width <30 mm) display a black body coloration matching the substrate that reduces the risks of intense and intraspecific predation (João et al., 2023). In contrast, larger individuals exhibit noncamouflaged yellow or purple phenotypes as they face lower predation pressures and have evolved multiple defense strategies (João et al., 2023; Liao et al., 2022; Rojas & Burdfield‐Steel, 2022).…”

Section: Role Of Body Size In Camouflagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…One study found that only small individuals (carapace width <30 mm) display a black body coloration matching the substrate that reduces the risks of intense and intraspecific predation (João et al., 2023). In contrast, larger individuals exhibit noncamouflaged yellow or purple phenotypes as they face lower predation pressures and have evolved multiple defense strategies (João et al., 2023; Liao et al., 2022; Rojas & Burdfield‐Steel, 2022). Notably, animals often employ a singular defense strategy during the early stages of development when they are more vulnerable to predation.…”

Section: Role Of Body Size In Camouflagementioning

confidence: 99%

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Role of body size and shape in animal camouflage

Yu,

Lin,

Xiao

2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Animal camouflage serves a dual purpose in that it enhances both predation efficiency and anti‐predation strategies, such as background matching, disruptive coloration, countershading, and masquerade, for predators and prey, respectively. Although body size and shape determine the appearance of animals, potentially affecting their camouflage effectiveness, research over the past two centuries has primarily focused on animal coloration. Over the past two decades, attention has gradually shifted to the impact of body size and shape on camouflage. In this review, we discuss the impact of animal body size and shape on camouflage and identify research issues and challenges. A negative correlation between background matching effectiveness and an animal's body size has been reported, whereas flatter body shapes enhance background matching. The effectiveness of disruptive coloration is also negatively correlated with body size, whereas irregular body shapes physically disrupt the body outline, reducing the visibility of true edges and making it challenging for predators to identify prey. Countershading is most likely in larger mammals with smaller individuals, whereas body size is unrelated to countershading in small‐bodied taxa. Body shape influences a body reflectance, affecting the form of countershading coloration exhibited by animals. Animals employing masquerade achieve camouflage by resembling inanimate objects in their habitats in terms of body size and shape. Empirical and theoretical research has found that body size affects camouflage strategies by determining key aspects of an animal's appearance and predation risk and that body shape plays a role in the form and effectiveness of camouflage coloration. However, the mechanisms underlying these adaptations remain elusive, and a relative dearth of research on other camouflage strategies. We underscore the necessity for additional research to investigate the interplay between animal morphology and camouflage strategies and their coevolutionary development, and we recommend directions for future research.

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Section: Role Of Body Size In Camouflagementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Role Of Body Size In Camouflagementioning

confidence: 99%

Role of body size and shape in animal camouflage

Yu,

Lin,

Xiao

2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Beneath the surface: co-habitation of recruits of the land crab Johngarthia lagostoma and its relevance for conservation on oceanic islands

Pinheiro,

Dias-Silva,

Kriegler

et al. 2024

J. Mar. Biol. Ass.

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Gecarcinid crabs have their life cycles in antagonistic scenarios, with their larvae developing in the sea and the juvenile/adult phases occurring on land. Adults migrate from land to sea to release their larvae, which return to land upon reaching the megalopa stage. Recruitment and early instar traits in gecarcinids crabs remain unknown, leading to some species lacking age-specific information. Despite massive recruitment observed in some insular gecarcinid species (e.g. Gecarcoidea natalis), recruits are generally expected to be few and exhibit cryptic behaviour, potentially occupying the burrows of conspecifics. We evaluated whether recruits of Johngarthia lagostoma on Trindade Island, Brazil, co-inhabit larger conspecific burrows, analysing this occurrence and examining their growth patterns, density, and body size across different lunar phases. Johngarthia lagostoma recruits inhabit conspecific burrows, either abandoned or occupied by adult crabs, but always with leaves stored in the inner chamber. Recruits in co-inhabiting behaviour reach a maximum carapace width of 7.3 mm, and after that, they are likely detected by the adults and possibly cannibalized or leave burrows naturally. During the full moon, the higher density and smaller size of recruits were recorded, indicating a recruitment lunar phase. It is crucial to ascertain the prevalence of co-inhabitation behaviours in other land crab species to expand the knowledge about recruitment patterns in these key community species.

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Intrapopulation variability in coloration is associated with reproductive season in the crayfish Faxonius virilis

Mathews

2024

Current Zoology

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Animal coloration has a wide range of biological functions and may be subject to different, sometimes conflicting, selective pressures. In crustaceans, the evolution of coloration is relatively unstudied, despite the broad range of colors and color patterns, which includes variability at multiple levels. Freshwater crayfish are known to show color variability within species and populations, as well as intra-individual variability, but the function, if any, of crayfish coloration is largely unknown. Here, I report on an experiment to understand patterns of color variability in the crayfish Faxonius virilis and show that variation is strongly correlated to ontogenetic changes from a summer non-reproductive form to a fall reproductive form. Crayfish showed comparatively little inter- and intra-individual color variation in their non-reproductive form, but substantial variation at both levels in the reproductive form. Transition to the reproductive form was associated with the development of greener or bluer coloration localized to the chelae on a subset of individuals, but these changes showed no clear correlation with sex or body size. Future investigations should focus on determining whether differences in color between individuals in the mating season are associated with any physiological or behavioral differences, or with differential susceptibility to predation.

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Intraspecific color diversity and camouflage associated with ontogeny in an insular land crab

Cited by 5 publications

References 87 publications

Role of body size and shape in animal camouflage

Role of body size and shape in animal camouflage

Beneath the surface: co-habitation of recruits of the land crab Johngarthia lagostoma and its relevance for conservation on oceanic islands

Intrapopulation variability in coloration is associated with reproductive season in the crayfish Faxonius virilis

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