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A review of feeding and nutrition of herbivorous land crabs: adaptations to low quality plant diets

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Abstract

This paper reviews the nutritional ecology, the digestive physiology, and biochemistry of herbivorous land crabs and the adaptations that they possess towards a diet of plant material. Land crab species that breathe air and forage out of water can be divided into three feeding specialisations: primarily carnivorous, deposit feeders feeding on micro-organisms and organic matter in the sediment, and herbivores consuming mainly plant material and its detritus. The last forms the focus of this review. The diets of the herbivores are low in nitrogen and high in carbon, are difficult to digest since they contain cellulose and hemicellulose, and may disrupt digestion due to the presence of tannins. Herbivorous crustaceans are able to efficiently utilise plant material as their primary nutrient source and are indeed able to meet their nitrogen requirements from it. Herbivorous land crabs display a range of adaptations towards a low nitrogen intake and these are discussed in this review. They also appear to endogenously produce cellulase and hemicellulase enzymes for the digestion of cellulose and hemicellulose. Generalised and specific adaptations allow them to inhibit the potentially negative digestive effects of tannins. To digest plant material, they possess a plastic digestive strategy of high food intake, short retention time, high assimilation of cell contents, and substantial digestion of cellulose and hemicellulose.

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  1. School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Pigdons Road, Waurn Ponds, VIC, 3217, Australia

    Stuart M. Linton

  2. School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Peter Greenaway

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Correspondence to Stuart M. Linton.

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Communicated by I.D. Hume.

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Linton, S.M., Greenaway, P. A review of feeding and nutrition of herbivorous land crabs: adaptations to low quality plant diets. J Comp Physiol B 177, 269–286 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-006-0138-z

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