crabs

Pilumnopeus serratifrons (Kinahan, 1856)
Class Malacostraca Order Decapoda Infraorder Brachyura Family Pilumnidae
classification
smooth-handed crab
morphology surface substrate habitat
1.5 cm
image: Shane Ahyong
Carapace oval, wider than long, sparsly covered with setose ridges. Front of carapace (between
eyes) bilobed and rounded; margins to the side of eyes cut into low triangular teeth. Chelipeds very
smooth, well developed but unequal (right usually larger than left). Finger tips dark brown to black.
Walking legs shorter than chelipds and often setose. Carapace and walking legs brown. Chelipeds
finger tips dark brown. Colour often obscured by a layer of muddy sediment.
Northeastern NZ (Coromandel, Auckland and north) and southeastern Australia. Under stones on
sheltered sandy and muddy beaches, rarely in burrows. Intertidal.
Davie, P.J.F. (1989) A re-appraisal of Heteropanope Stimpson, and Pilumnopeus A Milne-Edwards (Crustacea: Decapoda: Pilumnidae) with descriptions of new
species and new genera. Memoirs of The Queensland Museum 27: 129-156.
Yaldwyn, J.C., Webber, R.W. (2011) Annotated checklist of New Zealand Decapoda (Arthropoda: Crustacea). Tuhinga 22: 171-272.
33