Galapagos Species Database
The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.
Amphithrax bellii
Cangrejo araña musgoso, Moss backed spider crab
(M. bellii) Caparace width to 68 mm.
(M. bellii) Origin and Affin. Atlantic. Mid and Infra-littoral -Sublittoral to 12 m.
Domain
Eukaryota
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Arthropoda
Class
Malacostraca
Order
Decapoda
Suborder
Pleocyemata
Superfamily
Majoidea
Family
Mithracidae
Genus
Amphithrax
Species
bellii
Taxon category: Accepted
Syn.: Mithrax bellii (Gerstaecker, 1857) (Horton et al., 2021).
Origin: Native
Map of specimen collection localities or observation records for this species in our collections database.
Distribution: (M. bellii) Ecuador (Galapagos Island) also reported for Chile
- Garth, J.S. (1991) Taxonomy, Distribution, and Ecology of Galápagos. Brachyura. In: James, M.J. (ed.): Galápagos Marine Invertebrates. Taxonomy, Biogeography, and Evolution in Darwin's Islands. Plenum Press. New York and London, p. 123-155.
- Hickman, C.P. Jr. Zimmerman, T.L. (2000) A Field Guide to Crustaceans of Galápagos. Sugar Spring Press, Lexington, Virginia, 156 pp.
- Horton, T. Horton, T., Kroh, A., Ahyong, S., Bailly, N., Boyko, C. B., Brandão, S. N., Gofas, S., Hooper, J. N. A., Hernandez, F., Holovachov, O., Mees, J., Molodtsova, T. N., Paulay, G., Decock, W., Dekeyzer, S., Poffyn, G., Vandepitte, L., Vanhoorne, B., Adlard, R., ... Zhao, Z. (2021) World Register of Marine Species. Available from https://www.marinespecies.org at VLIZ.
You are welcome to download and use the information found in this page, acknowledging its source.
This page should be cited as follows:
"Galapagos Species Database, Amphithrax bellii", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=19934. Accessed 4 November 2026.