Morphometric differentiation of hermit crabs, superfamily: Paguroidea from Mumbai, North-West coast of India.

The present communication deals with an attempt to differentiate species of hermit crabs, collected from Maharashtra region, using morphometric features. A total of 16 morphometric measurements features were recorded from each specimen. The morphometric features like cheliped dactylus length, cheliped propodus length, carapace length, ocular peduncle length, antennular peduncle length and propodal length have been found to be important traits in the separation of the species. Among these first three, cheliped dactylus length, cheliped propodus length and carapace length, are most important in differentiation. The analysis also indicated 99.55 % correct discrimination of the species based on selected traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]