H. Milne Edwards, 1834
Carapace very broadly triangular, sometimes lyre-shaped, with very large lateral clypeiform vaulted expansions completely concealing the ambulatory legs, and prolonged posteriorly far beyond the base of abdomen. Dorsal surface with regions more or less inflated. Lateral margins more or less distinctly serrated and crenellated, and with closed fissures sometimes very apparent. Rostrum nearly horizontal, very prominent, spatuliform. Eyes very small, retractile. Antennae with the basal article of antennae dilated. Buccal cavity and third maxillipeds small, sometimes swollen. Chelipeds: merus with a winglike lobe on posterior margin; palm elongated, tricarinated and dentate; fingers short. Ambulatory legs slender, with the fourth, fifth and sixth articles carinated; dactyli nearly straight. (Guinot 1998)
Type species: Cancer fornicata Fabricius, 1781.
Species treated:
Cryptopodia fornicata (Fabricius, 1781)