crabs

Pilumnus novaezelandiae Filhol, 1885
Class Malacostraca Order Decapoda Infraorder Brachyura Family Pilumnidae
classification
bristle crab
morphology surface substrate habitat
1 cm
images: Colin McLay
Carapace oval-shaped and wider than long, anterior margin with short spines, upper surface sparsely
covered with long and short bristles (denser towards anterior) giving ragged/bristly appearance.
Unequal sized chelipeds (right usually larger), bristly in appearance with covering of tubercles.
Muddy-brown, pale underneath. Chelipeds finger tips black, extreme tips white.
Endemic, widely distributed around NZ including Stewart, Chatham and Kermadec Islands. Under
boulders and in rock crevices fouled with algae, sponge and bryozoa, often gregarious. Low
intertidal to 130 m (more common at shallower depths).
to 130m
It could also be……….
Pilumnus lumpinus
Bennett, E. W. (1964). The marine fauna of New Zealand: Crustacea Brachyura. New Zealand Oceanographic Institute Memoir 22: 1–120.
Takeda, M. & Webber, W. R. (2006) Crabs from the Kermadec Islands in the South Pacific. In Y. Tomida, T. Kubodera, S. Akiyama & T. Kityama (Eds.), Proceedings
of the 7th and 8th Symposia on Collection Building and Natural History Studies in Asia and the Pacific Rim 34: 191-237.
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