crabs

Elamena producta Kirk, 1878
Class Malacostraca Order Decapoda Infraorder Brachyura Family Hymenosomatidae
classification
paua spider crab
morphology surface substrate habitat
1.5 cm
main image: Kareen Schnabel, inset: Colin McLay
Carapace pentagonal shape, flat and smooth. Rostrum wide and blunt in shape, extending between
eyes, tipped by very small peak. Long, smooth, slender legs. Variable carapace colour from blackishbrown
to olive-brown, red-brown, purple, cream or white with no difference between the sexes.
Striking white patches are often present at base of last pair of legs. Legs often purple tinged with
white bands, claw pincers white tipped.
Endemic, widespread around New Zealand. Under large boulders in course sand or pebbles on
bottom of pools in lower mid-littoral, usually amongst coralline turf. Rocky shores with moderate
exposure, often in shells of living paua (Haliotis iris). Intertidal rock pools.
It could also be……….
Halicarcinus spp.
Melrose, M. J. (1975) The marine fauna of New Zealand: Family Hymenosomatidae (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura). New Zealand Oceanographic Institute
Memoir 34: 1–123.
Yaldwyn, J.C., Webber, R.W. (2011) Annotated checklist of New Zealand Decapoda (Arthropoda: Crustacea). Tuhinga 22: 171-272.
18