Carl Linnaeus in the 1767 12th edition of his Systema Naturae, under the name Cancer tubularis. It was later described by Polydore Roux as Pagurus ornatus, and that species was transferred to the genus Calcinus in 1892 by Édouard Chevreux and Eugène Louis Bouvier. Lipke Holthuis recognised that C. ornatus was a junior synonym of Cancer tubularis, and transferred Linnaeus' species to the genus Calcinus, at which point it reached its current scientific name. The specific epithet refers to the animals habit of living in the tubes of vermetid molluscs. Linnaeus' description is imprecise, and could refer to "practically any hermit crab", but the type locality (the Mediterranean Sea), together with the statement that it lives in worm tubes, restricts the possibilities to this one species. Evolution The sister species of Calcinus tubularis is C. verrilli, which is endemic to Bermuda. The two species show the same sexual dimorphism in shell choice, making this an example of niche conservatism. References Hermit crabs Crustaceans of the Atlantic Ocean Crustaceans described in 1767 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus