Horseshoe Crab

Government of Maryland Horseshoe crabs belong to the phylum of Arthropods, which consists of animals having an articulated body and limbs. The three major classes of Arthropods are Insects, Arachnids and Crustaceans. The horseshoe belongs to its own class called Merostomata, which means "legs attached to the mouth." Though they are called "crabs," they're not. In fact, they are most closely related to trilobites that existed 544 million years ago.	Hiroski Sugita
Horseshoe crabs (Limulidae) are currently represented by four species including Limulus polyphemus, found along the eastern coast of North and Central America, and three Indo-Pacific species, Tachypleus gigas - found from India to Japan & South China, Tachypleus tridentatus - found from Malaysia to the Philippines and Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda - found from India to Brunei. All four species are similar in terms of anatomy and lifestyle. Fossils such as the one shown above are known from the Upper Jurassic of Germany where they are found in the famous "Solnhofen" limestones of Bavaria.

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