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Ovalipes ocellatus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Malacostraca
Order:	Decapoda
Suborder:	Pleocyemata
Infraorder:	Brachyura
Family:	Ovalipidae
Genus:	Ovalipes
Species:	O. ocellatus
Binomial name
Ovalipes ocellatus (Herbst, 1799)
Synonyms
Cancer ocellatus Herbst, 1799 Platyonichus ocellatus (Herbst, 1799) Portunus pictus Say, 1817

Ovalipes ocellatus, commonly known as the lady crab, oscellated crab, or calico crab, is a species of crab in the family Ovalipidae.

Description

The carapace of O. ocellatus is slightly wider than long, at 8.9 centimetres (3.5 in) wide, and 7.5 cm (3.0 in) long. The carapace is yellow-grey or light purplish, with "leopardlike clusters of purple dots". It exhibits a limited iridescence as a form of signalling.

Taxonomy

Ovalipes ocellatus is commonly known as the lady crab, oscellated crab, or calico crab. It was first described in 1799 by naturalist Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst, who placed it into the genus Cancer. In 1898, carcinologist Mary Jane Rathbun moved the species to her new genus Ovalipes. O. ocellatus is part of a distinct group of Ovalipes which also includes O. floridanus, O. iridescens, O. molleri, and O. stephensoni. O. ocellatus is almost identical to O. floridanus, which lives in the Gulf of Mexico, but can be separated from the sympatric O. stephensoni by purple spots which O. stephensoni lacks. The following cladogram based on morphology shows the relationship between O. catharus and the other extant species of Ovalipes:

Distribution

The distribution of Ovalipes ocellatus extends along North America's Atlantic coast from Canada to Georgia. O. ocellatus is "probably the only Ovalipes species common north of Virginia", being replaced by Ovalipes stephensoni to the south.

Diet

The diet of Ovalipes ocellatus consists predominantly of bivalves, crustaceans including other crabs, polychaetes, cephalopods, and gastropods. It rarely feeds on fish.

Life cycle

Ovalipes ocellatus has five zoeal (larval) stages, lasting a total of 18 days at 25 °C (77 °F) and a salinity of 30‰, and 26 days at 20 °C (68 °F) and 30‰.

Ecology

Ovalipes ocellatus is nocturnal and often buries itself in the sand. It has been described as "vicious" and "the crab most likely to pinch a wader's toes".

Notes

1. ^ Sometimes "northern lady crab"
2. ^ Sometimes "ocellate lady crab"
3. The nickname "calico crab" is shared with Hepatus epheliticus.
4. This group – one of two – is distinguished from the rest of Ovalipes by features such as iridescence, lack of a tooth at the top of its orbit, and a carina ending in a spine on the outer wrist.
5. Ovalipes itself sits within the monogeneric family Ovalipidae.

References

1. ^ Herbst 1799, pp. 61–62.
2. ^ Ahyong, Shane T. (30 April 2022). "Ovalipes ocellatus (Herbst, 1799)". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
3. Bernier, Locke & Hanson 2009, p. 105. sfn error: no target: CITEREFBernierLockeHanson2009 (help)
4. Stehlik 1993, p. 723.
5. Ruppert & Fox 1988, pp. 257–258.
6. ^ Pollock 1998, p. 264.
7. Voss 2002, p. 98.
8. ^ Poore & Ahyong 2023, pp. 695–696.
9. ^ Kaplan, Eugene H. (1999). "Lady crab Ovalipes ocellatus". In Roger Tory Peterson (ed.). A Field Guide to Southeastern and Caribbean Seashores: Cape Hatteras to the Gulf Coast, Florida, and the Caribbean. Peterson Field Guides (2nd ed.). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 322. ISBN 978-0-395-97516-9.
10. ^ Parker, Mckenzie & Ahyong 1998, p. 866.
11. Rathbun 1898, p. 597.
12. Stephenson & Rees 1968, pp. 214, 245. sfn error: no target: CITEREFStephensonRees1968 (help)
13. Stephenson & Rees 1968, pp. 213, 247–248. sfn error: no target: CITEREFStephensonRees1968 (help)
14. Johnson, William S.; Allen, Dennis M. (2005). "Swimming (Portunid) crabs". Zooplankton of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts: a guide to their identification and ecology. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 220–222. ISBN 978-0-8018-8019-3.
15. ^ Stehlik 1993, pp. 727–729.
16. Ropes 1989, p. 201.
17. Bullard, Stephan Gregory (2003). "Ovalipes ocellatus (Herbst, 1799)". Larvae of anomuran and brachyuran crabs of North Carolina: a guide to the described larval stages of anomuran (families Porcellanidae, Albuneidae, and Hippidae) and brachyuran crabs of North Carolina, U.S.A. Volume 1 of Crustaceana monographs. Brill. pp. 29–30. ISBN 978-90-04-12841-5.

Bibliography

• Herbst, Johann Friedrich Wilhelm (1799). Versuch einer Naturgeschichte der Krabben und Krebse &c. &c [Attempt at a Natural History of Crabs and Crustaceans &c. &c.] (in German) (First ed.). Berlin and Stralsund: Gottlieb August Lange – via the Internet Archive.
• Rathbun, Mary Jane (1898). "The Brachyura collected by the U. S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross on the voyage from Norfolk, Virginia, to San Francisco, California, 1887-1888". Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 21 (1162): 567–616. doi:10.5479/si.00963801.21-1162.567.
• Voss, Gilbert L. (2002) . Seashore Life of Florida and the Caribbean. Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-42068-X.
• Ruppert, Edward; Fox, Richard (1988). "Arthropoda". A Guide to Common Shallow-Water Invertebrates of the Southeastern Atlantic Coast. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 0-87249-534-5.
• Ropes, John W. (1989). "The Food Habits of Five Crab Species at Pettaquamscutt River, Rhode Island" (PDF). Fishery Bulletin. 87 (1): 197–204. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 May 2024. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
• Stehlik, Linda L. (October 1993). "Diets of the Brachyuran Crabs Cancer Irroratus, C. Borealis, and Ovalipes Ocellatus in the New York Bight". Journal of Crustacean Biology. 13 (4): 723–735. doi:10.1163/193724093X00291. JSTOR 1549103.
• Parker, Andrew R.; Mckenzie, David R.; Ahyong, Shane T. (22 May 1998). "A unique form of light reflector and the evolution of signalling in Ovalipes (Crustacea: Decapoda: Portunidae)". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 265 (1399): 861–867. doi:10.1098/rspb.1998.0371. PMC 1689053.
• Pollock, Leland W. (1998). A Practical Guide to the Marine Animals of Northeastern North America. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-2399-6.
• Poore, Gary C.B.; Ahyong, Shane T. (2023). Marine Decapod Crustacea: A Guide to Families and Genera of the World. CRC Press. doi:10.1071/9781486311798. ISBN 978-1-4863-1178-1. LCCN 2021388782.

External links

• [REDACTED] Media related to Ovalipes ocellatus at Wikimedia Commons
• 3D model from the Smithsonian Institution

• Crustaceans
• United States
• Canada

• Portunoidea
• Crabs of the Atlantic Ocean
• Crustaceans described in 1799