Biodiversity & Conservation

Thumbnail crab - Thia scutellata

Thia scutellata

Image Marco Faasse - Thia scutellata. Image width ca 8 cm.
Image copyright information

Distribution map

Thia scutellata recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

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Thia scutellata is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Arthropoda Arthropods, joint-legged animals, e.g. insects, crustaceans & spiders
Class Malacostraca Crabs, lobsters, sand hoppers and sea slaters
Authority Fabricius, 1793
Recent synonyms Thia polita Leach in Brehaut, 1973
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Has been recorded at Moray Firth, Plymouth, Channel Isles, Scilly Isles, Carmarthen Bay, Cardigan Bay, Anglesey, Liverpool Bay, Isle of Man and Galway Bay.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Burrows in sand and mud from low water to about 45 m.
Text page icon Description A small, flat crab with a heart shaped carapace, up to 20 mm long, distinctly notched around the edge with a dense fringe of long hairs. Pale pink in colour with red to brown markings.
Identifying features
  • Carapace slightly brader than long, strongly convex transversely, dorsal surface smooth, margins densely setose.
  • Frontal region arched, orbits and eyes very small.
  • Antero-lateral margins of carapace with three or four indistinct teeth.
  • Chelipeds equal, slightly compressed.
Additional information icon Additional information Also commonly known as the polished crab.

This review can be cited as follows:

Emily Wilson 2008. Thia scutellata. Thumbnail crab. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 22/05/2012]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=4458>