# Talk:Coconut crab

Living fossil, or convergent evolution with something VERY old? I'd like to see differences with the original terrestrial anthropods specifically crabs.
The path to spider is merely more suitable terrestrial lungs, terrestrial eggs and then the loss of the then useless 9th and 10th legs..

Hey guys. Vacationing in Jamaica for my 13th birthday, I was coming back to my room from the a club one night around midnight. I was walking up a set of stairs when something large and heavy fell on my head, literally.  I looked down surprised and saw the biggest "spider" I had ever seen! I immediately shrieked and stomped on it. It was destroyed rather easily and after my initial freight I was deeply saddened for killing a living creature, (even though I am deathly afraid of spiders). I didn't know what it was until recently, (some 13 years later). But I wanted to say it was brown and blackish, with out claws/pinchers.  I remember the next day a little drama unfolded when the workers were asking around to see who had killed the creature and if they had been attacked.  I figured it was an endangered species or something so I kept my mouth shut. But this was a terribly tragic experience for me, and I just wanted to share it. Wikilich (talk) 02:35, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

According to the range information, coconut crabs are not found in the Atlantic Ocean.  SlowJog (talk) 22:43, 26 May 2009 (UTC)
I think that references to Coconut Crabs (Birgus latro), commonly called Robber Crabs on Christmas Island, being a metre or so in size are highly exagerated. I was the Government Conservator with Parks Australia North on Christmas Island during 1997/98 and can state that they do not reach this size. Dr Holger Rumpff is spelt with 2 'f's. He is a sadly missed friend and colleague who was an expert on the ecology of Christmas Island. In addition, he was a superb wildlife photographer. David Murray
The error is still on the front page. You might to fix the steal part. --Cyberman 00:15, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Ok it's fixed now. ^_^ --Cyberman 00:21, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Only the other day someone at wikipedia:reference desk was mentioning that we don't have an article about the coconut crab. Amazing that this article came up in just 2 hours. Good work Chris! Jay 18:40, 12 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Yeah! Great work! Mark Richards 22:48, 12 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Thanks. I saw the question at the wikipedia:reference desk, including the photo found by Mark Richards. Thought it would be a waste to have such a nice photo with no article to go with. I'll be also checking some german links soon, which seem to have some additional info. -- Chris 73 | Talk 02:25, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Added the statement about Christmas Island having the largest population based on this link: http://www.wilderness.org.au/campaigns/marine/christmas_island/save_ci/.
Though this is not an authoratitive scientific source, I considered it reputable enough to use. Disclaimer: I grew up on Christmas Island and am fond of the place (and it's crabs). Congrats on the great work you've done on this article Chris -- Oska 06:09, Jul 13, 2004 (UTC)

Thanks for your editing. Most of my sources are different webpages, and very few are peer reviewed scientific journals, so your source is just fine. Actually, I had the feeling that the habitat was not yet complete, and I was missing a few spots. Thanks for the update. Chris 73 | Talk 06:27, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Nice article. Just a couple of comments:

The bit about opening coconuts in the wild but not in captivity is fun, but the final piece (just why can't the crabs open them in captivity) is missing.
The german bio could do with being created
And the lung bit
I'm not a bio so don't want to myself :-) (William M. Connolley 16:30, 9 Oct 2004 (UTC))

Oopening coconuts: Probably nobody knows. Maybe the crabs were too small, the coconuts too old or unripe, or the wrong coconuts, maybe they died not of hunger but e.g. lack of water, or - my preference - they were just scared shitless in the laboratory environment and too stressed to open coconuts.
The german bio could do with being created Holger Rumpff? I'll see what I can do
And the lung bit Not sure what you mean
Thanks for the feedback. -- Chris 73 Talk 11:49, Oct 11, 2004 (UTC)
This bit: The crabs cannot swim and will drown in water. The crab uses a special organ called a branchiostegal lung to breathe.
Holger Rumpff: I searched the web and could not find any biographical information of him. The only thing I found was "This work is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Holger Rumpff, without whose enthusiasm ..." here and here. Seems to be not very notable, so I unlinked his name in the main article, and probably won't create an article. If you find more and write an article, please feel free to link it again. Searching Google for "branchiostegal lung" OR "branchiostegal lungs"  -wikipedia brings up a few references, I may make a stub about that. -- Chris 73 Talk 14:23, Oct 11, 2004 (UTC)
He's called Rumpf (one 'f') in 2 german press articles, here http://www.diepresse.at/Artikel.aspx?channel=r&ressort=ra&id=457876 and here http://www.mdr.de/windrose/archiv/471738.html Worth looking into perhaps? Prater 22:04, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Added Rumpf/Rumpff comment and updated link -- Chris 73 Talk 03:44, Feb 14, 2005 (UTC)

The Cultural paragraph on children playing with coconut crabs sounds like encouragement to engage in animal cruelty. Surely this is not the intent. If this is an actual common practice, can we at least say something factual like "children sometimes play" or even "children often play", rather than a permissive "children may play", so as not to condone the practice? (I'm no animal rights activist, but I see no point in appearing to recommend amusement by getting other creatures to harm themselves.) — Jeff Q 03:32, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Good point. I reworded it as suggested -- Chris 73 Talk 04:08, Feb 10, 2005 (UTC)
I sure wouldn't let my kids play with one... not if I liked the idea of them having fingers. PenguinJockey 01:24, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Did you guys read the recent article over at BBC?  I think it's worth including the new information on the creature's sense of smell, if you feel like it.
And by the way, good article!
--Polyparadigm 04:52, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for the info. Added a section. How does it look? -- Chris 73 Talk 05:22, Feb 10, 2005 (UTC)
Looks great!  Man, that was fast.--Polyparadigm 07:18, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)
(Chris patting himself on the shoulder with a satisfied look)  :) -- Chris 73 Talk 07:26, Feb 10, 2005 (UTC)

These creatures are big, but how big? I did a little checking around, and found sizes ranging from 40 cm to over a meter, and weights from 3 kg to 17 kg. This is also a long-lived species, apparently, achieving maximum size after 40-60 years. If someone can confirm this info it would be good to include with the article. -- Mmm 16:08, Feb 10, 2005 (UTC)

Saying 'from head to tail' is bad usage, because crabs don't have heads or tails. But I also think the size of one meter is reached only when measuring the other way: from claw to claw. Prater 17:28, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)
I tried to incorporate the variations of the different sources in the article -- Chris 73 Talk 04:11, Feb 14, 2005 (UTC)
No way in hell is this thing's leg span 2 m. That's just not true. It's 1 m, at most. Jerkov (talk) 14:57, 15 June 2008 (UTC)
I just edit that part. After looking through yahoo and google results, National Geographic came back as the only source that I find reliable. They says coconut crab can have a leg span of "more than 3ft (1m)". I know that 1m is actually closer to 3.3ft. Usually when I see numbers like this, I assume that the number inside the parenthesis is rounded off after conversion to make it easy for the readers. So I think the actual leg span is "more than 3ft." The age is listed as "more than 30 years." http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/im/im0125.htmlElsonlam1 (talk) 05:43, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Why is "Coconut Crab" consistently capitalized, even in the title? Compare for example hermit crab. — Ливай | ☺ 21:20, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Compare fx "cat" :). I fixed it. Thue | talk 22:41, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Species names are capitalized. See Red-throated Diver, Black-crowned Night Heron, Australian Land Hermit Crab, Ecuadorian Hermit Crab, et al. It is hermit crab which is incorrect. it should be Hermit Crab. If you want to find the lengthy dialog on this decision, I can track it down. it occurred over a year ago. Kingturtle 23:16, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Thanks for informing me. No need to track down the discussion itself. I figured there must have been some reason it was written like that and not changed; now my curiosity is satisfied. — Ливай | ☺ 03:22, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Why isn't all instances of "cat" capitalized? *curious* Thue | talk 23:49, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)
If you are referring to cats, wild species of the family Felidae are capitalized: Black-footed Cat, Flat-headed Cat, Canadian Lynx, Bengal Tiger, Indochinese Tiger, Clouded Leopard, etc. Breeds of domestic cats also utilize the same capitalization rule: Maine Coon, Turkish Angora, British Shorthair, Egyptian Mau to name but a few. All of these species are catagorized officially by scientific groups. But breed names are more tricky - and might not always fall into official catagorization. There may also be some instances outside of the scientific categorization of kinds of cats - and  such instances won't follow the capitalization rule, such as Feral cat. I hope this helps. :) Kingturtle 01:30, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)
This is a highly contentious issue. If it were up to me, I'd say only birds should be capitalised, and as it says at: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (fauna) -- and see also the associated talk page. Wikipedia articles have gone crazy capitalising all species from Blue Whale to Dingo for some weird reason. If there was a vote on the issue I'd say "coconut crab" with small c's and "dingo" with a small d. Further debate should probably be on the Wikipedia:Naming conventions (fauna)'s talk page. --Pengo 08:09, 12 Feb 2005 (UTC)
The symantical reason for the capital letters is simple. it distinguishes between a black bear (any bear that is black) and a Black Bear (a bear of the Ursus americanus species). Kingturtle 17:32, 12 Feb 2005 (UTC)
If it were up to me the difference would be between "black bear" and "blackbear" (like "blue bird" and "bluebird") but hey, I don't write the dictionaries. Whatever works I guess... — Ливай | ☺ 10:15, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)
There is no good reason for capitalising species names, and absolutely no reason to capitalise hermit crab, since that refers to a group of animals, not to a single species. As far as I can see from the discussions, only ornithologists routinely use capital letters for species names (which they consider to be somehow official, i.e. tied to a particular scientific name); everyone else should be using lower case, except where appropriate for other reasons (e.g. Norway lobster). There is certainly no fixed list tying common names for crustaceans to scientific names, so the names cannot be considered in any way official. Since they are not proper nouns, therefore, they should not be capitalised in English. I suggest this article be re-named (or un-renamed) "Coconut crab". Stemonitis 15:24, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)
WHY was this changed back from Coconut Crab to Coconut crab? The case has been stated exactly WHY this article should be Coconut Crab. Please explain the change to Coconut crab. Kingturtle 18:19, 2 Apr 2005 (UTC)
For the reasons stated above, and others too, not least consistency within the Crustacea; all crustacean articles are uncapitalised, as are many (most?) other arthropods. A while ago I looked at the crustacean articles and saw a huge mixture of capitalised and uncapitalised forms, perhaps with a majority uncapitalised (I can't honestly remember). I looked up the relevant style guides and discussions and discovered that outside of bird species names, there is no real consensus. I therefore picked what made sense to me, and made them consistent. If you want it to be "Coconut Crab" again, then you would have to capitalise all the other crustacean species as well (note that since hermit crab is a group, not a species, that rule needn't apply to it - that would need to be included in the discussion). I recently requested a couple of moves to lower case, for consistency's sake (e.g. American lobster), and they were approved by the community. I took that, and the silence following the change here as evidence of acceptance of my choice. Of course, if you know of any reason for the coconut crab to be treated specially, please say so. --Stemonitis 14:52, 4 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I am in the camp that it should be Coconut Crab. Read my reasons above for this position. I'd be willing to take the time personally to make such changes to ALL articles that would need to be changed to make this consistant. Kingturtle 01:41, 5 Apr 2005 (UTC)

The Coconut Crab is also known as "Bubble Crab".

No references found online in connection with the coconut crab -- Chris 73 Talk 03:45, Feb 14, 2005 (UTC)
In Portuguese it is named "Caranguejo-de-Bôlha"(i.e Bubble's Crab) perhaps in another related languages is also.
In the Northern Part of the Philippines they are called Tatos and they are a delicacy 19:30, 3 December 2007 (UTC)berwynson

"It is sometimes called the robber crab or palm thief (in German, Palmendieb), because some coconut crabs steal shiny items such as pots and silverware from houses and tents."
I would like to see proof of such behaviour, else it should be described as rumored. Most Coconut crabs are in fact not theives at all.

In Dutch it is also called klapperdief, which means thief of coconuts. It 'steals' (and even that is not fully documented) coconuts from the trees, but nothing else... Lycaon 22:25, 23 April 2006 (UTC)
That a crab would steal silverware seems highly unlikely since they would have absolutely no use for them and, judging by the information here, doesn't seem to have either the eyesight nor the intelligence to actually appreciate shiny objects. However, I've seen a photo of a robber crab in the midst of climbing up a trashcan (presumably in search of food). That might be one way of how they could be perceived as theives of something other than coconuts.
Peter Isotalo 10:39, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

This article is considered to fall outside the scope of the Version 0.5 test release, which is of limited size.  It is now being held ready for a later version. Jaranda wat's sup 05:08, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

I think Jan Vermeer's excellent entry[1][2][3] in this year's Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition would make an great addition to the article, but i'm not sure whether it would qualify as fair use.  Anyone have an idea?  --Piet Delport 02:00, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Looks copyrighted, and since we have lots of free pics already, I would advise against claiming free use. -- Chris 73 | Talk 07:52, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Hey everyone, great article here.  I just wanted to mention that it would be really helpful if the citations in the "References" section could be merged into the footnotes using the instructions from WP:FOOT.  That way readers could follow citations straight from the fact in question to its source. You seem to have a lot of good references, and they would be much more useful if they could be incorporated as in-text citations.--Margareta 02:10, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

I recommend doing this not by mashing all of the references into one section, but keeping "Notes" limited to shorthand notation would make them much easier to read. The full info could then be stated under "References/Works cited/Sources/Whatever" and would make an overview of the list of sources so much easier.
Peter Isotalo 15:40, 5 January 2008 (UTC)
I have started footnoting using the system that the SocSci people use a lot and which I like. It allows convenient referencing without cluttering up the code; the average user would probably not be very interested in the technical details about nitrogenous excretion in Birgus latro but rather that this is a 1989 paper (maybe there is new info now?) from Greenaway & Morris (which seem foremost experts on the matter).
Another advantage is that this way, we need not have these ugly queues of 5-10 footnotes you see sometimes. We can simply give ists of references in a single footnote.
I have also completed the reference details; it is a matter of taste but I don't like the "cite" templates, they use too much space and are not very flexible. Some details I added would have do be removed, which is not good I think because good sourcing is important.
I have not changed capitalization, though there are good reasons for it - it's a Proper Name, the only thing that does consistent get caps in English. But the community at large is undecided (except for birds), and all we can say at present is that it's not "coconut Crab". ;D (FWIW, doing mostly birds, I know that capped common names have no disadvantages that cannot be overcome by adjusting style and wording).
So now everybody can read the sources (for most, abstracts are available) and add footnotes where they apply. The system I used should be understandable and convenient to use even if you are really new to Wikipedia. BTW I noticed had to change quite a bit in "Diet", last paragraph. Check it out. Dysmorodrepanis (talk) 23:20, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
Note that I had put refs before punctuation because a) it is by far the more widespread system globally (only in the US does after-punctuation dominate, from what I've seen) and b) it is less ambiguous when it comes to referencing single facts or sentences vs entire paragraphs; I can only recommend it because I have seen too many cases where after-punctuation would appear to source claims that it does not actually source... there are some paragraphs in this article where it might be crucial. I had been expecting that ppl would prefer the "US system" but had to do some shuffling of information to avoid after-punctuation-caused ambiguities. It's more a matter of taste really, but you might want to stay alert for the "last sentence of paragraph" problem; you'll see what I mean soon enough. Dysmorodrepanis (talk) 19:03, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

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This article has had tags in place for almost a year, is largely uncited, and needs a MoS tuneup.  Is anyone watching/working on it?  SandyGeorgia (Talk) 19:01, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Joanne E. Wilde, Stuart M. Linton and Peter Greenaway (2004). "Dietary assimilation and the digestive strategy of the omnivorous anomuran land crab Birgus latro (Coenobitidae)". Journal of Comparative Physiology B. 174 (4): 299–308. doi:10.1007/s00360-004-0415-7.

Was/is the coconut crab eaten as a food by humans? Badagnani (talk) 04:20, 31 August 2008 (UTC)
Yes, according to the article. Badagnani (talk) 04:31, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

In Physical Description:
"The body of the coconut crab is a mixture of orange and playful seven"
What the heck does that mean? Is this a typo/vandalism?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.8.48.157 (talk) 20:55, 19 March 2009 (UTC) 

Fixed.Mokele (talk) 22:27, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

apomorphic is poor use in an encyclopedia article.  I realize a blu link helps define the term and that it is a good specialist term.  Still bad usage in wiki.  I think I will write an essay on this growing practice.  72.82.52.106 (talk) 16:24, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

Map does not match distribution.  Map shows Taiwan, etc. having crabs, but this is not mentioned in the text.  Also, the map does not call out the features described in the text, for instance Christmas Island.  Let's push ourselves more to make a quality product.  Give people what they would get in a pay encyclopedia.  Then we can talk about wiki being better than Britanica.  72.82.52.106 (talk) 12:40, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
The article states that the eastern limit of distribution is the Gambier Islands. This is not correct, as the Pitcairn Islands are further east than the Gambier Islands, and theh coconut crab is well known there. There was even a Pitciarn Islands stamp issue featuring it in 2008. Arkive (http://www.arkive.org/coconut-crab/birgus-latro/#text=Range) states that there are reports of it from Pitcairn Islands, and even as far east as Easter Island, though I cannot otherwise confirm that the latter. But my wife grew up in Pitcairn, and confirms their presence there. Ptilinopus (talk) 06:56, 22 June 2012 (UTC)

Just in case anyone's watching, I should warn ye that I plan to restore this article to its former FA glory, so don't be alarmed by the changes. Wish me luck! Sasata (talk) 05:17, 15 April 2009 (UTC)

It would be nice to have an image of the crab with either a human person or else some object of well-known size in it (match box, box of cigarettes, dollar bill etc.), so that the size of the animal can be made visually obvious. Thanks! -- 92.229.105.68 (talk) 15:39, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

Was it really necessary to say the crab is "sympatric" with man merely to say their territory overlaps?? Except for the bottom of the sea and wild reserves, are there any species anywhere on Earth that are not "sympatric" with man?  I am not a biology or evolutionary expert but it seems to me this word was not meant to be used in this context. 24.214.155.48 (talk) 18:49, 29 March 2010 (UTC)

Agreed.  I'll take it out. 75.75.100.149 (talk) 15:49, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Apparently her remains were eaten by these things. 76.219.110.140 (talk) 19:52, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

I've identified these journal articles from a Web of Science search as possibly relevant, and not currently used in the article. In preparation for FAC, I'd like to try to find & read these, to see if we're missing anything, and to get better acquainted with the literature. To keep it (relatively) simple, I stopped at 1999. Sasata (talk) 23:01, 29 August 2011 (UTC)

Emigration behaviour during sea-to-land transition of the coconut crab Birgus latro: Effects of gastropod shells, substrata, shelters and humidity
Author(s): Hamasaki Katsuyuki; Sugizaki Mio; Sugimoto Ayaka; et al.
Source: JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL MARINE BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY  Volume: 403   Issue: 1-2   Pages: 81-89   DOI: 10.1016/j.jembe.2011.04.007  Published: JUL 15 2011
Title: Plausible causes for sperm-store variations in the coconut crab Birgus latro under large male-selective harvesting
Author(s): Sato Taku
Source: AQUATIC BIOLOGY  Volume: 13   Issue: 1   Pages: 11-19   DOI: 10.3354/ab00350 Published: 2011
Title: FEMALE SIZE AS A DETERMINANT OF LARVAL SIZE, WEIGHT, AND SURVIVAL PERIOD IN THE COCONUT CRAB, BIRGUS LATRO
Author(s): Sato Taku; Suzuki Nobuaki
Source: JOURNAL OF CRUSTACEAN BIOLOGY  Volume: 30   Issue: 4   Pages: 624-628   DOI: 10.1651/10-3279.1 Published: NOV 2010
Title: Brain architecture of the largest living land arthropod, the Giant Robber Crab Birgus latro (Crustacea, Anomura, Coenobitidae): evidence for a prominent central olfactory pathway?
Author(s): Krieger Jakob; Sandeman Renate E.; Sandeman David C.; et al.
Source: FRONTIERS IN ZOOLOGY  Volume: 7     Article Number: 25   DOI: 10.1186/1742-9994-7-25   Published: SEP 10 2010
I added a summary sentence about this paper, but perhaps more should be said (as a unique and important aspect of coco crab biology)? Note that this paper is open access and contains several nice images, some of which we might consider using for the article. Sasata (talk) 18:33, 1 September 2011 (UTC)
Title: Sperm limitation: possible impacts of large male-selective harvesting on reproduction of the coconut crab Birgus latro.
Author(s): Sato Taku; Yoseda Kenzo; Okuzawa Koichi; et al.
Source: Aquatic Biology  Volume: 10   Issue: 1   Pages: 23-32   Published: 2010
Title: Double lethal coconut crab (Birgus latro L.) poisoning
Author(s): Maillaud C.; Lefebvre S.; Sebat C.; et al.
Source: TOXICON  Volume: 55   Issue: 1   Pages: 81-86   DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2009.06.034   Published: JAN 2010
Included. --Stemonitis (talk) 12:53, 8 September 2011 (UTC)
Title: Influence of size- and sex-biased harvesting on reproduction of the coconut crab Birgus latro
Author(s): Sato Taku; Yoseda Kenzo
Source: MARINE ECOLOGY-PROGRESS SERIES  Volume: 402   Pages: 171-178   DOI: 10.3354/meps08369   Published: 2010
Title: Folkloric research of the coconut crab Birgus latro (Linnaeus, 1758) in the Ryukyu Islands.
Author(s): Fujita Yoshihisa
Source: Cancer  Volume: 19   Pages: 41-51   Published: 2010
Title: Effect of temperature on survival and developmental period of coconut crab (Birgus latro) larvae reared in the laboratory
Author(s): Hamasaki Katsuyuki; Sugizaki Mio; Dan Shigeki; et al.
Source: AQUACULTURE  Volume: 292   Issue: 3-4   Pages: 259-263   DOI: 10.1016/j.aquaculture.2009.04.035   Published: JUL 15 2009
Title: Prediction of timing of mating and egg extrusion in the coconut crab Birgus latro judged from female pleonal expansion
Author(s): Sato Taku; Yoseda Kenzo
Source: FISHERIES SCIENCE  Volume: 75   Issue: 3   Pages: 641-648   DOI: 10.1007/s12562-009-0093-1   Published: MAY 2009
Title: Reproductive season and female maturity size of coconut crab Birgus latro on Hatoma Island, southern Japan
Author(s): Sato Taku; Yoseda Kenzo
Source: FISHERIES SCIENCE  Volume: 74   Issue: 6   Pages: 1277-1282   DOI: 10.1111/j.1444-2906.2008.01652.x   Published: DEC 2008
Title: Isolation and characteristics of 10 microsatellite markers from the endangered coconut crab (Birgus latro)
Author(s): Gan Chai-Hsia; Tee See-Min; Tang Pei-Ciao; et al.
Source: MOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES  Volume: 8   Issue: 6   Pages: 1448-1450   DOI: 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2008.02330.x   Published: NOV 2008
Nothing worth including. --Stemonitis (talk) 12:53, 8 September 2011 (UTC)
Title: Recruitment dynamics in a rainforest seedling community: context-independent impact of a keystone consumer
Author(s): Green Peter T.; O'Dowd Dennis J.; Lake P. S.
Source: OECOLOGIA  Volume: 156   Issue: 2   Pages: 373-385   DOI: 10.1007/s00442-008-0992-3   Published: MAY 2008
Only a brief mention, but included nonetheless. --Stemonitis (talk) 12:53, 8 September 2011 (UTC)
Title: Notes on the behavior of shell-carrying coconut crab, Birgus latro (Linnaeus, 1758), reared in the laboratory.
Author(s): Fujita Yoshihisa; Ito Akane
Source: Cancer  Volume: 17   Pages: 1-4   Published: 2008
Title: Notes on the molting behaviour of juvenile coconut crab Birgus latro (Linnaeus, 1758) reared in the laboratory.
Author(s): Fujita Yoshihisa; Ito Akane
Source: Cancer  Volume: 16   Pages: 39-42   Published: 2007
Title: Management implications of a coconut crab (Birgus latro) removal study in Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
Author(s): Kessler Curt C.
Source: Micronesica  Volume: 39   Issue: 1   Pages: 31-39   Published: JUL 2006
Contains useful information about management in CNMI (now included in article), but main object of study is probably too small-scale to be included here. --Stemonitis (talk) 19:34, 20 September 2011 (UTC)
Title: Pets. 122. Robber crab. ( Birgus latro).
Author(s): Fukase T.
Source: Journal of Veterinary Medicine, Japan  Volume: 59   Issue: 10   Pages: 862-863   Published: 2006
Title: Observation of a coconut crab, Birgus Latro (Linnaeus, 1767) predation on a Polynesian rat, Rattus exulans (Peale, 1848)
Author(s): Kessler C
Source: CRUSTACEANA  Volume: 78   Pages: 761-762   DOI: 10.1163/156854005774353485   Part: Part 6   Published: JUN 2005
Already included. --Stemonitis (talk) 07:00, 2 September 2011 (UTC)
Title: Excretory and storage purines in the anomuran land crab Birgus latro; Guanine and uric acid
Author(s): Linton S; Wilde JE; Greenaway P
Source: JOURNAL OF CRUSTACEAN BIOLOGY  Volume: 25   Issue: 1   Pages: 100-104   DOI: 10.1651/C-2515   Published: FEB 2005
Title: Coconut crabs.
Author(s): O'Grady Geoff
Source: CCA Ecological Journal  Volume: 4   Pages: 62   Published: 2002
Title: Sodium and water balance in free-ranging robber crabs, Birgus latro (Anomura : Coenobitidae)
Author(s): Greenaway P
Source: JOURNAL OF CRUSTACEAN BIOLOGY  Volume: 21   Issue: 2   Pages: 317-327   DOI: 10.1651/0278-0372(2001)021[0317:SAWBIF]2.0.CO;2   Published: MAY 2001
Title: Adaptations to a terrestrial existence in the robber crab Birgus latro L. IX. Hormonal control of post-renal urine reprocessing and salt balance in the branchial chamber
Author(s): Morris S; Greenaway P; Adamczewska AM; et al.
Source: JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY  Volume: 203   Issue: 2   Pages: 389-396   Published: JAN 2000
Title: Role of the midgut gland in purine excretion in the robber crab, Birgus latro (Anomura : Coenobitidae)
Author(s): Dillaman RM; Greenaway P; Linton SM
Source: JOURNAL OF MORPHOLOGY  Volume: 241   Issue: 3   Pages: 227-235   DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-4687(199909)241:3<227::AID-JMOR5>3.3.CO;2-7   Published: SEP 1999
Title: Assessment of an unexploited population of coconut crabs, Birgus latro (Linne, 1767) on Taiaro atoll (Tuamotu archipelago, French Polynesia)
Author(s): Chauvet C; Kadiri-Jan T
Source: CORAL REEFS  Volume: 18   Issue: 3   Pages: 297-299   DOI: 10.1007/s003380050198   Published: SEP 1999
Small case study – nothing obviously worth including. --Stemonitis (talk) 15:37, 16 September 2011 (UTC)
Title: Know more about the occasional pests of coconut palm.
Author(s): Chandrika Mohan; Mohan C.
Source: Indian Coconut Journal (Cochin)  Volume: 30   Issue: 6   Pages: 4-9   Published: 1999
Title: The coconut or robber crab (Birgus latro) in the Chagos Archipelago, and its captive culture at London Zoo.
Author(s): Barnett L.K.; Emms C.; Clarke D.
Source: Linnean Society Occasional Publication  Volume: 2   Pages: 273-284   Published: 1999
Do you know how many of these topics are covered by recent reviews? Where possible, we should be trying to use the secondary literature. I would hope that Drew et al. (2010) would discuss most important aspects of the species' biology, for instance. I see no problem with going back to the primary literature to fill in some details, but I don't think we should expect to include the results of every research paper. --Stemonitis (talk) 07:00, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

Of course, we won't be using them all (I probably won't even be able to access several), but we can't claim that the article is well-researched and comprehensive unless a good effort is made to survey the available literature. Sasata (talk) 14:35, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

This review is transcluded from Talk:Coconut crab/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Reviewer: Mike Searson (talk · contribs) 18:28, 10 October 2011 (UTC)
Very good so far!  I moved one picture as it was disrupting the flow of text and creating a huge whitespace and changed a few words to allow for better flow.  The pictures are all good and appropriate, the only thing I can see right now...and it may not be an issue at all... is aren't they protected from export?  I remember these crabs as being popular in the exotic animal trade until the early 1990s.  I've been told over the past 15 years that they were protected from importation and have not seen a live one since 1993.  A lesser point, but it may be worth mentioning if a source can be found.  The only other issue I see (which will not keep it from GA, but may cause problems at FAC), is large page ranges are given on certain references.  As a writer, I see no problems with this, as information in one sentence in a wiki article can easily range over as many as 20 pages in a published reliable source, but certain critics will start the arm-waving at FAC if page cites are not kept to a 2 page maximum.--Mike - Μολὼν λαβέ 18:53, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

The export restrictions are touched upon in the "Conservation" section. I think most localities base export restrictions on a combination of carapace length and/or egg-bearing status, like the examples given in the article, but the exact details vary from region to region. I'm not sure how much more can be said here without repeating what's already there, but will have to dig around to find out (perhaps Stemonitis has access to some more information about this?). I agree about giving more specific page citations for sources with longer page ranges, and this will have to be addressed before FAC. Thanks for the copyedit, you cleared up quite a bit of extraneous verbiage! Sasata (talk) 19:39, 10 October 2011 (UTC)
Yeah, like I said, its a lesser point (live export), but it was how I was more familiar with them...I remember seeing them on an importer's list and the price was cheap...it turned out what he had were actually some other land crab that was bigger than a hermit crab, looked like a Fiddler and had red claws with a purplish shell (I've seen them called "rainbow crabs" and they don't get bigger than 6 inches across).  The word in the industry at the time was "they're protected/prohibited".  Yeah, I find it easier to do minor fixes as it would take me as long or longer to tell you to fix them.  --Mike - Μολὼν λαβέ 20:03, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

The Coconut crab is a protected species on Diego Garcia. The crab in the photo is one on Diego Garcia. The photo is germain to the section and to the article. --Revmqo (talk) 14:15, 23 November 2012 (UTC)

But there's no way of seeing from the image that it's in Diego Garcia, and so it doesn't illustrate that fact. It's just another picture of a coconut crab, with nothing special to recommend it. It's not at particularly high resolution; it's not particularly well composed. Indeed, Diego Garcia isn't even mentioned in the Conservation section, so it couldn't possibly be illustrating that. It adds nothing that isn't already shown by the existing images, and thus fails WP:IUP. --Stemonitis (talk) 15:04, 23 November 2012 (UTC)

The article states more than once that adult coconut crabs will drown in the ocean, but also says that reproduction happens in the water, with adult crabs having been found as far as 6km offshore. Can someone reconcile these pieces of information? --170.145.0.100 (talk) 17:29, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

Current reading of the article is that fertilization takes place on land, but hatching eggs are released at the shore line.  And the 6km is inland, not offshore. 192.4.0.12 (talk) 20:02, 7 August 2014 (UTC)
This article also says that the crab will die if left in salt water for an hour, and in another section, says that it will die if in water "less than a day".  Reference 11 vice reference 18. Unclesmrgol (talk) 06:49, 24 November 2016 (UTC)

It's a Drupe according to the following Wikipedia articles:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drupe
Can someone knowledgeable about this subject edit the article to reflect that please?
50.170.31.164 (talk) 20:16, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
Y fixed ~dom Kaos~ (talk) 13:32, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

I've removed the claim that coconut crabs may have consumed Earhart's remains, as per the discussion on her talk page. This species faces enough threats to its population, without tabloidy scaremongering ~dom Kaos~ (talk) 14:47, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

I don't see the discussion you linked, but I'm guessing that's just because that talk page was cleared since then, since this talk post is pretty old. Regardless, the validity of the whole "eaten by coconut crabs" conspiracy theory (And let there be no doubt, it is a conspiracy theory) is pretty irrelevant to the cultural phenomenon surrounding it. I've readded a mention of this in the "Relationship with humans" section, alongside a rebuttal of it as anything aside from a conspiracy theory/internet meme. I think it'd be better to bring it up and then refute it than to pretend that it doesn't exist at all, especially since several edits appear to have been made/undone since then that express this in a more matter-of-fact way. Myconix (talk) 17:19, 1 September 2023 (UTC)
Actually, I would like to bring up what to call this phenomenon. I believe I first added it as an "internet meme and conspiracy theory," then the "conspiracy theory" part was dropped (I suspect to give it less weight). But as of recent edits, it's being called a "theory." Does anyone have a particularly strong opinion on this? Myconix (talk) 20:42, 17 August 2025 (UTC)

Someone reversed my edit and said that it didn't belong in the introduction. I selected that placement because that is where the article was talking about what the crabs eat. Where should I put that there is some evidence they hunt birds? Most Humble and Obedient Servant (talk) 23:08, 9 March 2021 (UTC)

This critter has been entered into Category:Apex predators. Can anyone explain why it might get that designation? What animals does it prey upon?--Mike Selinker (talk) 00:50, 29 March 2021 (UTC)

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The redirect Bubble Crab has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2025 August 19 § Bubble Crab until a consensus is reached.  consarn (grave) (obituary) 19:48, 19 August 2025 (UTC)