Editing King crab (section)

==Taxonomy==
The [[phylogeny]] of king crabs as hermit crabs who underwent secondary calcification and left their [[Gastropod shell|shell]] has been suspected since the late 1800s.<ref name="Noever & Glenner 2017" /> They are believed to have originated during the [[Early Miocene]] in shallow North Pacific waters, where most king crab genera – including all Hapalogastrinae – are distributed and where they exhibit a high amount of [[Phenotypic disparity|morphological diversity]].<ref name="Noever & Glenner 2017" /><ref name="Karasawa et al. 2017">{{cite journal|last1=Karasawa|first1=Hiroaki|last2=Mizuno|first2=Yoshiaki|last3=Hachiya|first3=Kiichiro|last4=Ando|first4=Yusuke|title=Reappraisal of anomuran and brachyuran decapods from the lower Miocene Morozaki Group, Japan, collected by the Tokai Fossil Society|journal=Bulletin of the Mizunami Fossil Museum|date=March 2017|issue=43|pages=47–69|issn=0385-0900|url=https://www.city.mizunami.lg.jp/_res/projects/default_project/_page_/001/002/283/bmfm43karasawa-1.pdf|access-date=5 December 2024|via=the [[Mizunami Fossil Museum]]}}</ref>

In 2007, the king crabs were moved from their classification among the hermit crabs in the [[superfamily (taxonomy)|superfamily]] [[Paguroidea]] into a separate superfamily, Lithodoidea.<ref name="Grave" /> This was not without controversy, as there is widespread consensus in the scientific community that king crabs are derived from hermit crabs and closely related to [[Paguridae|pagurid hermit crabs]]; therefore, a separate superfamily in the classification poorly reflected the [[phylogenetic tree|phylogenetic relationship]] of this taxon.<ref name="Keiler" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Anker |first1=Arthur |last2=Paulay |first2=Gustav |date=2013-10-22 |title=A remarkable new crab-like hermit crab (''Decapoda'': ''Paguridae'') from French Polynesia, with comments on carcinization in the Anomura |url=https://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2013/f/zt03722p300.pdf|url-status=live |journal=[[Zootaxa]] |volume=3722 |issue=2 |pages=283–300 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.3722.2.9 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190724212126/https://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2013/f/zt03722p300.pdf |archive-date=2019-07-24}}</ref> In 2023, king crabs were folded back into Paguroidea, with Lithodoidea being considered superseded.{{sfn|Poore|Ahyong|2023|pp=311–312}} The king crab's relationship to other hermit crabs as well as the family's internal phylogeny can be seen in the following two [[cladogram]]s:<ref name="Noever & Glenner 2017"/><ref name="Wolfe 2019">{{cite journal |last1=Wolfe |first1=Joanna M. |last2=Breinholt |first2=Jesse W. |last3=Crandall |first3=Keith A. |last4=Lemmon |first4=Alan R. |last5=Lemmon |first5=Emily Moriarty |last6=Timm |first6=Laura E. |last7=Siddall |first7=Mark E. |last8=Bracken-Grissom |first8=Heather D. |display-authors=6 |date=24 April 2019 |title=A phylogenomic framework, evolutionary timeline and genomic resources for comparative studies of decapod crustaceans |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B |volume=286 |issue=1901 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2019.0079 |doi-access=free |pmid=31014217 |pmc=6501934}}</ref>
{{Anomura cladogram}}
{{Lithodidae cladogram}}

{{As of|2025|May}}, there are 15 known [[Genus|genera]] of king crabs across two [[subfamilies]].<ref name="WoRMS">{{Cite WoRMS|last=Ahyong|first=Shane T.|author-link=Shane T. Ahyong|year=2023|id=106737|title=Lithodidae Samouelle, 1819|access-date=18 May 2025}}</ref>{{sfn|Poore|Ahyong|2023|pp=311–312}}<ref>{{cite journal|last1=McLaughlin|first1=Patsy A.|last2=Komai|first2=Tomoyuki|last3=Lemaitre|first3=Rafael|last4=Rahayu|first4=Dwi Listyo|date=2010-10-31|editor-last=Low|editor-first=Martyn E. Y.|editor2=Tan|editor2-first=S. H.|title=Annotated checklist of anomuran decapod crustaceans of the world (exclusive of the Kiwaoidea and families Chirostylidae and Galatheidae of the Galatheoidea) Part I – Lithodoidea, Lomisoidea and Paguroidea|url=https://decapoda.nhm.org/pdfs/31605/31605.pdf|url-status=live|journal=[[The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology]]|volume=Suppl. 23|pages=5–107|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417015104/https://decapoda.nhm.org/pdfs/31605/31605.pdf|archive-date=2016-04-17|via=the [[Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County]]}}</ref> These include:<ref name="WoRMS" />

=== Hapalogastrinae ===
{{Linked genus list
| Acantholithodes | Holmes, 1895
| Dermaturus | [[Johann Friedrich von Brandt|Brandt]], 1850
| Hapalogaster | [[Johann Friedrich von Brandt|Brandt]], 1850
| Oedignathus | Benedict, 1895
| Placetron | Schalfeew, 1892
}}

=== Lithodinae ===
{{Linked genus list
| Cryptolithodes | [[Johann Friedrich von Brandt|Brandt]], 1848
| Echidnocerus | White, 1842{{efn|name=de Grave & Ahyong 2022|Known as ''Lopholithodes'' Brandt, 1848 until 2022 after the senior synonym ''Echidnocerus'' was rediscovered.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=de Grave|first1=Sammy|last2=Ahyong|first2=Shane T.|author-link2=Shane T. Ahyong|title=''Echidnocerus'' White, 1842, an overlooked senior synonym of ''Lopholithodes'' Brandt, 1848 (Decapoda, Lithodidae)|journal=[[Crustaceana]]|date=2022 |volume=95|issue=7|pages=861–865|doi=10.1163/15685403-bja10223|bibcode=2022Crust..95..861D |s2cid=252517428 }}</ref>}}
| Glyptolithodes | [[Walter Faxon|Faxon]], 1895
| Lithodes | [[Pierre André Latreille|Latreille]], 1806
| Neolithodes | [[Alphonse Milne-Edwards|A. Milne-Edwards]] & Bouvier, 1894
| Paralithodes | [[Johann Friedrich von Brandt|Brandt]], 1848
| Paralomis | White, 1856
| Phyllolithodes | [[Johann Friedrich von Brandt|Brandt]], 1848
| Rhinolithodes | [[Johann Friedrich von Brandt|Brandt]], 1848
| Sculptolithodes | Makarov, 1934
}}