They are the only anomurans to be found in fresh water except for a single hermit crab species, Clibanarius fonticola, on Espiritu Santo island, Vanuatu.
While the Christmas Island fly Lissocephala powelli lives on both true crabs and Anomura (for example Birgus latro, the robber crab), D. endobranchia and the closely related D. carcinophila live on gecarcinid crabs such as the black Gecarcinus ruricola and the red G. lateralis.