VARUNIDAE H. MILNE EDWARDS, 1853

Martin, Joel W. & Haney, Todd A., 2005, Decapod crustaceans from hydrothermal vents and cold seeps: a review through 2005, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 145 (4), pp. 445-522 : 498

FAMILY VARUNIDAE H. MILNE EDWARDS, 1853

Remarks: The varunids were formerly treated as a subfamily of the Grapsidae , most of which are commonly called ‘shore crabs’ (Williams et al., 1989; McLaughlin et al., 2005). Recognition of the Varunidae as a separate family follows the classification of Martin & Davis (2001) and papers cited therein. The only genus of the family Varunidae known from vents, Xenograpsus (see below), is probably deserving of its own family (P. Ng, pers. comm.) based on larval morphology and other characters; if so this would leave the varunids without known vent representatives.