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Shell-breaking crabs lived 20 million years earlier than thought
Date:4/22/2008

aw generated a great deal of force to break shells, while the smaller left cutter claw moved faster and could manipulate prey into position. Also, the curved tooth increased the power of the claw.

Dietl hopes the discovery will spur other researchers to search for similar examples of these curved tooth structures from the Late Cretaceous period, just prior to the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Although Megaxantho crabs became extinct around 65 million years ago, these features evolved again in other crab species throughout the Cenozoic era, leading to present-day crabs, according to the study. The repeated evolution suggests that such power-enhancing adaptations may evolve during times and places where resources are abundant and accessible, Dietl said.

The study may be relevant to the current stresses of habitat loss, overfishing, climate change and other human-influenced activities that are reducing the productive capacity of the environment.

"We may be diminishing the capacity of organisms to adapt in novel ways," a consideration that conservationists may need to account for in future strategies for protecting natural areas, he said.


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Contact: Blaine Friedlander
bpf2@cornell.edu
607-254-8093
Cornell University Communications
Source:Eurekalert

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