Distribution
Five Ocypode species are found in Australia: O cordimanus, O. ceratophthalmus, O. fabricii, O. convexa and O. pallidula (Jones 1988).
O. cordimanus is a common species and widely distributed throughout the Indo-West Pacific region, including Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, the Cocos-Keeling Islands, Timor, Natunas, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and Australia (Tuerkay et al. 1996).
In Australia, O. cordimanus is common on sandy coastal and island beaches from the Kimberley coast in Western Australia to the Northern Territory, Queensland, including the Great Barrier Reef, and northern New South Wales (Jones and Morgan 2002). Another species common to Australia and with overlapping distribution is O. ceratophthalmus.
A further three species found in Australia are less common; O. fabricii is distributed along northern and western coasts, O. convexa is endemic to Western Australia and can be found as far south as Bunbury and O. pallidula is rare but recorded on Heron Island, Lady Musgrave Island and the end of Gillet Cay on the Great Barrier Reef (Jones 1988).
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