Rafinesque, 1815
Carapace quadrangular. Lateral margins unarmed. Front usually of no great breadth, being often a narrow lobe more or less deflexed. Orbits broad, occupying the whole anterior margin of the carapace outside the front; their outer wall often defective. Interantennular septum generally broad, sometimes as a thin plate. Eyestalks long. Buccal cavern usually large and a little narrower anteriorly. Third maxillipeds foliaceous and usually completely closing the buccal cavern, sometimes leaving a gap but never rhomboidal; exopodite generally slender and often more or less concealed; palp coarse, articulating at or near the antero-external angle of the merus. Male abdomen narrow, with all segments usually distinct. Female openings sternal. Male openings sternal. Ventral surface of abdomen or bases of ambulatory legs often with tufts of fine setae. (Guinot 1998)
Subfamilies treated:
subfamily Dotillinae Stimpson, 1858
subfamily Macrophthalminae Dana, 1852
subfamily Ocypodinae Rafinesque, 1815