Hermit crab shells instead, as shown by a specimen of "Palaeopagurus vandenengeli" from the Speeton Clay, Yorkshire, UK from the Lower Cretaceous. Hermit crab Hermit crabs are decapod crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea. Most of the approximately 1,110 species possess an asymmetrical abdomen that is concealed in a scavenged mollusc shell carried around by the hermit crab. Most species have long, spirally curved abdomens, which are soft, unlike the hard, calcified abdomens seen in related crustaceans. The vulnerable abdomen is protected from predators by a salvaged empty seashell carried by the hermit crab, into which its whole body can retract. Most frequently,
Cinnamon-throated hermit Cinnamon-throated hermit The cinnamon-throated hermit ("Phaethornis nattereri") is a species in the hummingbird family, Trochilidae. It is found in a broad dry to semi-humid belt along the southern edge of the Amazon Rainforest from far north-eastern Bolivia north-east to Maranhão in Brazil. Its natural habitat is tropical dry to semi-humid forest, Cerrado and woodland. With its wide range, it is considered a Species of Least Concern by the IUCN. There is quite some confusion about the taxonomic status of birds called Maranhao hermit. It is sometimes treated as a subspecies of the cinnamon-throated hermit, but at present most follow the