La Tai Dong crab (Daipotamon minos)

Description:

The freshwater crab fauna of China is incredibly diverse, containing many highly endemic species with a restricted ranges. One of the rarest species is Daipotamon minos, a cavernicolous species from La Tai Dong cave. The species was discovered 1996 and is so far only known from the type locality, a small river inside a karstic cave. There is no light where the crabs live although they do not seem to have adapted morphologically to the cave as a habitat, still having fully pigmented eyes and a dark brown carapax and light brown walking legs.During my visit, I only found 3 specimens, two juveniles and one adult, and they are not at all abundant inside the cave. However, the cave is rarely visited by locals and by its natural constitution well protected from habitat alteration. A future problem could be pestecides and fertilizer in the river water, which would be definitely worth studying.Adult crab, Libo, Guizhou.Further information:Ng, P.K.L. & Trontelj, P. 1996. Daipotamon minos, a new genus and species of potamid crab (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura) from a cave in China. Proceedings of the biological society of Washington 109(3): 476 - 481