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Decoration
The pereiopods of Avitelmessus grapsoideus consist of the large chelipedes, three pairs of large, long, flattened, similarly-sized walking legs P2, P3, and P4, and a much reduced, ?subdorsal fifth pair of pereiopods P5. Pereiopods 2, 3, and 4 apparently are similar in size and shape. Each has a long merus which extends to be on line with the midpoint of the carpus on the chelipede. Each of these pereiopods is flattened and oriented with the blade slanting backward and downward. The leading and trailing edges of the meri are very spiny and their lower and upper surfaces (the surfaces that have to slide past as the crab
walks) smooth. The carpus and propodus of these ambulatory legs must have been about the same length as the merus. The fifth legs are much smaller than the others and appear to have been held posteriorly or even above the carapace, suggesting the possibility for carrying behavior in these crabs. The last pair of legs in Dakoticancer overana are also slender and much reduced in length. They were probably carried in a subdorsal position, as well.