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Flora and Fauna
Dotilla intermedia
Media
SUMMARY
No brush of hair between bases of walking legs. Fourth segment of abdomen overlapping 5 with a thick brush of setae at its distal end in both sexes. Gastric and cardiac areas of carapace entire, not divided by a median longitudinal groove; transverse groove near posterior margin incomplete in the middle. No lobules isolated by grooves on gastric region. Adult male with a tooth below orbital angle and a strong compressed tubercles on inner and proximal aspect of cheliped carpus. Tympana on all segments of sternum.
Vernacular name: Soldier crab
These are related to the so-called bubbler crabs. As they feed, their mouthparts sieve through the sand, filtering out the food particles. When finished, it discards the left-over sand as a ball on the ground. After several minutes of feeding, the ground is littered with dozens of closely packd balls. These are air-breathers and when the tide comes in, they retreat into their burrows, block the opening and ride out the high tide in a small air bubble.