Precopulatory Behaviour of the Hermit Crabs Diogenes Avarus and Clibanarius Virescens

Abstract

The precopulatory behaviour patterns of two species of hermit crab found in Australian waters are described. In Clibanarius virescens, males rotate the female's shell about an axis perpendicular to the female's shell aperture axis while holding the shell with their ambulatory legs. in Diogenes avarus, males hold the female's shell with their minor cheliped in an unusual orientation in which the female's shell aperture is facing away from the male. In D. avarus, both field and laboratory observations indicate that males in longer-spired shells such as Cerithium spp. are apparently at a disadvantage during precopulatory behaviour and obtain fewer matings than males in shorter-spired shells.