Clibanarius

Clibanarius is a genus of hermit crabs in the family Diogenidae. Like other hermit crabs, their abdomen is soft-shelled and sheltered in a gastropod shell. Typically marine like all their relatives, the genus includes C. fonticola, the only known hermit crab species that spends all its life in freshwater. The feeding rates of Clibanarius spp. change with temperature which, given their broad distributions, may have considerable consequences for the stability reef systems as sea temperatures rise in the future. They are omnivores, but mostly prey on small animals and scavenge carrion. As of 2009, about 60 species are recognized in Clibanarius; new species are discovered and described occasionally. Others have been placed here at one time or another but are now assigned to other genera of Diogenidae, namely Bathynarius, Calcinus, Paguristes, Strigopagurus and Trizopagurus. The Clibanarius species are: Clibanarius elongatus (H. Milne Edwards, 1848) is a nomen dubium.