Hermit crabs and cockroaches emerge as unlikely seed dispersers on a Japanese island

A study on Ishigaki Island, Japan, found that land hermit crabs and Australian cockroaches are the primary seed dispersers for the parasitic plant fungus root (Balanophora fungosa), with hermit crabs carrying an average of 86 fruits externally on their claws and both species defecating viable seeds—the first empirical evidence that land hermit crabs function as both external and internal seed dispersers.