A new species of hermit crab, Diogenes heteropsammicola (Crustacea, Decapoda, Anomura, Diogenidae), replaces a mutualistic sipunculan in a walking coral symbiosis.

Symbiont shift is rare in obligate mutualisms because both the partners are reciprocally dependent on and specialized to each other. In the obligate accommodation-transportation mutualism between walking corals and sipunculans, however, an unusual saltatory symbiont shift was discovered. In shallow...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Momoko Igawa, Makoto Kato
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2017-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5606932?pdf=render