Tree-dwelling crab species found in Kerala Kani maranjadu are long-legged

Author: Press Trust of India Thiruvananthapuram

Source -The Hindu

Scientists have discovered a new species of long-legged, tree-dwelling crabs in Western Ghats of Kerala. 

The new species named Kani maranjandu, after the Kani tribe in Kerala, are substantially different from other congeners 

First of its kind 

The characteristic traits of the crab include the structure of its hard upper shell, its male abdominal structure and reproductive parts and diagnostic elongated walking legs, which no other genus has, said researchers from the University of Kerala. This is the first report of its kind to offer a record of an arboreal crab. The survey of the freshwater crab fauna started in 2014 in the Westerns Ghats in Kerala. People from the Kani tribe reported sightings of a ‘long-legged’ tree crabs. 

“As water-holding hollows in large trees are essential for the survival of this unique species, the discovery also stress the need for conservation of large trees in the degraded forest ecosystems of the Western Ghats,” said Biju Kumar of the university. After a year, researchers were finally able to capture a female specimen, and later a large adult male. 

Actual biodiversity 

“It also highlights how little we know about the actual biodiversity that resides in these forests and the efforts that must still be made to find and study the many undoubted new species that still live there,” Mr. Kumar said. 

The findings were published in The Journal of Crustacean Biology. 

The crab species has been named after the Kani tribe in Kerala.