crabs

Nepinnotheres novaezelandiae (Filhol, 1885)
Class Malacostraca Order Decapoda Infraorder Brachyura Family Pinnotheridae
classification
pea crab
morphology surface substrate habitat
0.7 cm
images: Shane Ahyong
Carapace almost spherical – pea-like, very smooth. Eyes, antennules and antennae very reduced
and not easily seen from above. Chelipeds finger tips hooked and pointed. Mature females have
symmetrically sized legs from left to right. Colour variable – anterior half of carapace orangebrown,
with white spots and cream areas. Posterior half with white spots on a mauve and yellow
background. Chelipeds yellowish-brown, legs brown with darker areas. Mature females creamywhite
all over.
Endemic, widespread around New Zealand including Stewart and Chatham Islands. Typically
commensal (‘parasitic’) in the mussels Perna canaliculus and Mytilus galloprovincialis but also found in
other bivalves Aulacomya atra, oyster Crassostrea gigas, pipi Paphies australis and the cockle Chione
stutchburyi.
Intertidal and subtidal down to 30 m. Estuaries and open coastline.
It could also be……….
Nepinnotheres atrinicola
Page, R. M. (1983). Description of a new species of Pinnotheres, and redescription of P. novaezelandiae (Brachyura: Pinnotheridae). New Zealand Journal of Zoology
10: 151–162.
Yaldwyn, J.C., Webber, R.W. (2011) Annotated checklist of New Zealand Decapoda (Arthropoda: Crustacea). Tuhinga 22: 171-272.
37