spider-crabn.
One or other of several crabs belonging to the group Oxyrhyncha, esp. to the family Maioidea, and characterized by their long slender legs and spider-like appearance; a maia or maioid crab.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Malacostraca > division Thoracostraca > order Decapoda > suborder Brachyura (crab) > member of division Oxyrhyncha (spider-crab)
MaiaOE
sea spider1666
Maja1706
spider-crab1710
oxyrhynch1839
spider1853
kelp crab1884
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Malacostraca > division Thoracostraca > order Decapoda > suborder Brachyura (crab) > member of family Maiideae (spider-crab)
MaiaOE
frill1611
sea spider1666
spider-crab1710
king crab1815
maian1839
majoid1852
spider1853
sea-toad1857
1710 R. Sibbald Hist. Fife & Kinross ii. iii. 55 Cancer Araneus Johnstoni, the Spider Crab.
1756 P. Browne Civil & Nat. Hist. Jamaica ii. iii. 421 The Spider-Crab... All the limbs are slender and delicate, in proportion to the size of the body.
1848 C. A. Johns Week at Lizard 229 A few spider-crabs..were also stored away.
1865 P. H. Gosse Land & Sea 81 The spider-crab, or maia, of little value as food, though occasionally eaten.
1883 Science 1 466/2 The enormous spider-crabs of the Straits of Magellan.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
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