crabs

Halimena aoteoroa Melrose, 1975
Class Malacostraca Order Decapoda Infraorder Brachyura Family Hymenosomatidae
classification
morphology surface substrate habitat
0.3 cm
image: Colin McLay
Flattened carapace suboval, longer than broad but narrowing anteriorly. Rostrum tongue-shaped,
curving steeply downward anteriorly. Distinct groove between rostrum and carapace. Chelipeds
slightly longer than carapace width, but slender. First pair of legs longest, fourth pair shortest.
Ventral edge of legs with row of curved hairs and tips with a small blunt tooth. Reddish-brown, ends
of dactyl white. Dark stripe across the region where rostrum meets with carapace.
Endemic, widely distributed around NZ. Holdfasts of seaweed (Carpophyllum plumosum, among
Caulerpa sp. and Cystophora torulosa). Sub-littoral, shallow water.
It could also be……….
Halicarcinus spp.
Elamena producta
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.
McLay, C. (1988) Crabs of New Zealand. Leigh Laboratory Bulletin 22. University of Auckland, Leigh Marine Laboratory.
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