crabs

Neohymenicus pubescens (Dana, 1851)
Class Malacostraca Order Decapoda Infraorder Brachyura Family Hymenosomatidae
classification
morphology surface substrate habitat
0.4 cm
image: Chris Woods
Flattened carapace subcircular, as wide as long, rim very thin. Whole body densely covered with
fine setae, usually laden with sediment. Rostrum originating at carapace level, simple and bluntly
pointed, projecting past eyes. Chelipeds short in both sexes. First three pairs of legs as long as
chelipeds, fourth pair shorter. Tips of legs curved with edges fringed with short hairs and a single
blunt tooth on ventral edge. Grey-brown, yellow-brown.
Endemic, widely distributed around NZ including Stewart Island. Sheltered and moderately exposed
rocky reefs, seaweed (Carpophyllum sp.) holdfasts, coralline turf, rock crevices. Common intertidally
under rocks. Intertidal ans shallow water to 10m.
It could also be……….
Halicarcinus sp.
Hymenosoma depressum
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.
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