Cancer Linnaeus, 1758 : 625

Nucci, Paulo Ricardo & Melo, Gustavo Augusto Schmidt De, 2007, Hermit crabs from Brazil. Family Paguridae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Paguroidea): Genus Pagurus, Zootaxa 1406, pp. 47-59 : 47-48

Cancer Linnaeus, 1758: 625 [part.].

Pagurus Fabricius, 1775: 410 [part.].— Provenzano, 1959: 393.— Williams, 1965: 125.— Forest & Saint Laurent, 1968: 116.— Coelho & Ramos-Porto, 1986: 39.— Rieger, 1998: 413.— Melo, 1999: 100.— Forest et al., 2000: 189.— McLaughlin, 2003: 125 .— Nucci & Melo, 2003: 351.

Type species. Cancer bernhardus Linnaeus, 1758 .

Diagnosis. Eleven pairs of biserial gills. Rostrum variable. Crista dentata well developed, with 1 or more accessory teeth. Sternite of third maxilliped armed or unarmed. Chelipeds generally very unequal, right usually larger. Dactyls of ambulatory legs commonly with spiniform bristles on ventral margins. Fourth pereopods usually semichelate; propodal rasp with 1 to several rows of corneous scales. Males usually without, rarely with slight papilla protruded from gonopore on one or both coxae of fifth pereopod; usually with unpaired pleopods 2–5 or 3–5, rarely without unpaired pleopods. Females usually with paired, rarely with single left gonopore on coxa of third pereopod; without paired first pleopod, usually with unpaired pleopods 2–5, rarely 2–4. Pleon usually spirally twisted, occasionally straight. Uropods asymmetrical, occasionally symmetrical. Telson with terminal margins rounded, oblique or straight, usually with median cleft.

Distribution. Worldwide.