Weber, 1795
Carapace either broadly triangular or ovate-subpentagonal. Dorsal surface granular, tubercular or spiny. Front pointed but short. Eyes enclosed in distinct orbits, a suture above and a hiatus below. Antennules folding obliquely. Antennae small, their basal article extremely short, not reaching the inner canthus of orbit. Buccal frame usually quadrangular, sometimes a little narrowed in front, and completely closed by the third maxillipeds. Chelipeds usually of immense size and length, out of all proportion to the short slender ambulatory legs; fingers much shorter than the palm and abruptly curved inward and a little downward. (Guinot 1998)
Type species: Cancer longimanus Linnaeus, 1758, by subsequent designation by Rathbun, 1904.
Gender feminine.
Subgenera treated:
subgenus Aulacolambrus Paulson, 1875
subgenus Parthenope Weber, 1795
subgenus Platylambrus Stimpson, 1871
subgenus Pseudolambrus Paulson, 1875
subgenus Rhinolambrus A. Milne Edwards, 1878