crabs

Heterozius rotundifrons A. Milne-Edwards, 1867
Class Malacostraca Order Decapoda Infraorder Brachyura Family Belliidae
classification
big-handed crab
1 cm
morphology surface substrate habitat
images: Shane Ahyong
Carapace oval shaped, flattened and smooth. Front of carapace smooth except for one small notch
between eyes. Surface of carapace and legs are covered almost completely by a compact mat
of short setae, often loaded with silty. Chelipeds well-developed and rounded except for slender
pincers. One claw of male is significantly larger than the other. Walking legs short and stout. Dull
yellowish grey/green and often coated with mud, carapace sides and fingers are brigher yellow.
Tips of legs dark brown, antennules and eyestalks lighter yellow.
Endemic, North and South Islands and Chatham Island. Buries in sand/gravel, under stones and
boulders on rocky shores, very common, slow moving. Littoral and intertidal.
It could also be……….
Ozius deplanatus
Pilumnus sp.
Pilumnopeus serratifrons
McLay, C. (1988) Crabs of New Zealand. Leigh Laboratory Bulletin 22.
Yaldwyn, J.C., Webber, R.W. (2011) Annotated checklist of New Zealand Decapoda (Arthropoda: Crustacea). Tuhinga 22: 171-272.
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