 Reproduction is completely suppressed in both male and female crabs which are effectively castrated.The barnacle seems able to take control of the timing of the crab's moult, extruding its brood sac immediately after ecdysis, when the crab's shell is soft.Suitable host crabs include the flatback mud crab ("Eurypanopeus depressus"), the Say's mud crab ("Dyspanopeus sayi"), the knotfinger mud crab ("Panopeus lacustris"), P. obessus, the furrowed mud crab ("P. occidentalis"), the oystershell mud crab ("P. simpsoni"), the Harris mud crab (Rhithropanopeus harrisii), "Tetraplax quadridentata", and the inflated mud crab ("Tetraxanthus rathbunae"), all found in the western Atlantic Ocean, as well as the black-clawed crab ("Lophopanopeus bellus") which is found in the eastern Pacific Ocean.