Pictures on inaturalist
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/18893230
Crab megalopa, Arthur Anker, in his album “Invertebrate Zoology Course”, Flickr
Popular Mechanics
“Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:
Their repeated similar evolution makes them interesting to scientists.
Carcinization is the separate, five-time evolution of crabs.
Parallel evolution isn’t unheard of by any means, but crabs have done it a lot.”
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a65807010/crab-evolution-carcinization-animals/
The scholarly reference: https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article-abstract/121/1/200/3089703
“Within decapod crustaceans, Anomura is the phenotypically most disparate taxon, ranging from hermit crabs to squat lobsters to crab-like representatives. Curiously, not only did the crab-like habitus evolve independently from the ‘true’ crabs (Brachyura), it also evolved three times independently within anomurans. This process has been called ‘carcinization’ by the English zoologist Lancelot Alexander Borradaile in 1916.”
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