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Giant hermit crab (Petrochirus diogenes)

This specimen is relatively small. P. diogenes is the world’s second-largest hermit crab species, growing large enough to inhabit a full sized queen conch shell and beaten only by the terrestrial coconut crab, which is a hermit crab that stops using shells when it matures.

I can only assume that the the “diogenes” in its name comes from some parallel drawn between the hermit crab’s shell and the philosopher’s habit of sleeping in a large jar.

Key: If it looks like a collotheca then it is a collotheca!

Me: Great, but if I knew what a collotheca looked like I wouldn't be using this key.

Key: if it doesn't look like a collotheca it's something else!