Galapagos Species Database

The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.

Leptuca helleri (Rathbun, 1902)

Cangrejo violinista de Heller, Heller's fiddler crab, fiddler crab

(U. helleri) Found in supratidal and beach areas, lives in burrows on tidally flooded mud flats.

Taxonomy

Domain
Eukaryota

Kingdom
Animalia

Phylum
Arthropoda

Class
Malacostraca

Order
Decapoda

Suborder
Pleocyemata

Superfamily
Ocypodoidea

Family
Ocypodidae

Genus
Leptuca

Species
helleri

Taxon category: Accepted

Syn.: Uca (Leptuca) helleri Rathbun, 1902, Uca helleri Rathbun, 1902 (Horton et al., 2021)

Origin: Native

Distribution

Map of specimen collection localities or observation records for this species in our collections database.

Distribution: (U. helleri) Fernandina, Genovesa, Santa Cruz, Isabela

References

  • Constant, P. (2007) Marine Life of the Galapagos. The Diver's guide to Fishes, Whales, Dolphins and marine Invertebrates, 307 pp.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Peck, S.B. (1994) Diversity and zoogeography of the non-oceanic Crustacea of the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador (excluding terrestrial Isopoda). Canadian Journal of Zoology 72: 54-69.

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, Leptuca helleri", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=19940. Accessed 5 June 2026.