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- ›Malacostracans
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- ›Decapods
- ›Crabs, Lobsters, Shrimps, and Allies
- ›True Crabs
- ›Eubrachyuran Crabs
- ›Heterotrematan Crabs
- ›Xanthoid Crabs
- ›Round Crabs
- ›Polydectinae
Lybia
Lybia is a genus comprising eight species of small marine crabs from the family Xanthidae. Commonly known as boxer crabs and pom-pom crabs, these crabs are famous for their symbiosis with small aquatic invertebrates, particularly sea anemones, which they hold in their specialized claws for defense, and in some cases, feeding. The genus has a diverse distribution, ranging across the Indo-Pacific and existing as early as the Middle Miocene.
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the old herbals & bestiaries
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Lybia in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 51175.




