Aratus pisonii, commonly known as the mangrove tree crab, is a species of crab which lives in mangrove trees in tropical and subtropical parts of the Americas, from Florida to Brazil on the Atlantic coast, and from Nicaragua to Peru on the Pacific coast. It feeds mostly on the leaves of the mangroves, but is an omnivore, and prefers animal matter when possible. A. pisonii is the only species in the monotypic genus Aratus. The specific epithet pisonii commemorates the Dutch naturalist Willem Piso who travelled in Brazil in 1638 with Georg Marggraf.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Aratus pisonii has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens238
BINs3
Marker genes3
eDNA detections237
Countries12
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P641 bp consensus94 specimens
ACGT
▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies
Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 97% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Where individuals differ — all 18 variable positions, in barcode order
Each circle is a barcode variant; bigger = more specimens, colour = region. Lines join the most similar variants and the tick marks count the mutations between them — a tight cluster is one “dialect”, a long line a more divergent lineage. Click a circle to list its actual specimens.
Diversity (π)1.0%
Haplotypes21
BINs3
Most divergent pair2.3%
S.AmericaN.America
Closest relatives by DNA barcode
The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★COI-3P★COI-5P16S
animal barcoderibosomal
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type4 044 records
Wild obs. + sensor3 219
Museum / vouchered825
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO5 220 km²
Depth
0–200 m sunlit40
200–1000 m twilight0
1–4 km midnight0
>4 km abyssal0
median 1 m · max 30 m · 40 records with depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy85% within 1 km
≤100 m 1 575≤1 km 554≤10 km 233>10 km 151
2 513 georeferenced · 706 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor3 219
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy82% within 1 km
≤100 m 123≤1 km 19≤10 km 24>10 km 7
173 georeferenced · 652 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence825
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions12 of 29 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Washington, US
62
Mexico City, MX
56
Cambridge, US
45
Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record
20
Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Unidad Académica Mazatlán, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Méxicolocation not on record
20
Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldilocation not on record
19
Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeirolocation not on record
19
16
Florida Atlantic University, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Museumlocation not on record
16
Universidad del Valle de Guatemalalocation not on record
14
San Nicolás de los Garza, MX
10
Unidad Multidisciplinaria de Docencia e Investigación, Campus Sisal, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Méxicolocation not on record
10
UM-RSMASlocation not on record
9
FCMMlocation not on record
8
Frankfurt am Main
6
Los Angeles, US
6
Instituto Oceanográfico del Pacífico, Secretaría de Marinalocation not on record
6
Masindi, UG
6
Paris, FR
5
Universidad El Bosque (MCUB)location not on record
4
Chicago, US
4
Sistema de Colecciones Biológicas, Escuela de Biología, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala location not on record
3
Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras José Benito Vives de Andreis - Invemarlocation not on record
3
Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (Zoological Collections)location not on record
3
CASlocation not on record
2
Porto Alegre, BR
1
Brussels, BE
1
University of Louisiana at Lafayettelocation not on record
1
PUC-RSlocation not on record
1
29 institutions · 376 of 825 vouchered records shown · 118 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA237 detections
Where the DNA of Aratus pisonii was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found237
Studies independent surveys1
Countries12
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 237 detections have coordinates
Open the map12 countries0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median25.1 °C 12.2–26.8
Seasonal swing summer↔winter3.10 °C
Max temp (day)27.5 °C 16.7–30.2
Min temp (night)21.3 °C 4.90–25.8
Precipitation128 mm/mo 29.4–170
Air humidity63.6 % 57.3–68.6
Moisture balance32.9 mm/mo
Vapour deficit1,154 Pa 642–1,266
Wind speed4.40 m/s
Cloud cover34.3 % 21.7–45.9
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 222 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation6 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility3 801 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System243 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI237 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics238 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗