crabs

Austrohelice crassa (Dana, 1851)
Class Malacostraca Order Decapoda Infraorder Brachyura Family Varunidae
classification
burrowing mud crab
morphology surface substrate habitat
1 cm
image: Shane Ahyong
Carapace smooth and flattened, oblong/square in outline; body thick, somewhat barrel-shaped.
Large eyes on long stalks, at carapace corners. Slightly bilobed front between eyes. Chelipeds large
and rounded.
Carapace grey, olive-green, blue-green to brown, margins yellow. Chelipeds and walking legs light
yellow margins, but predominantly dark green. Antennae brown, antennules light purple, eyestalks
pale green. Ventral surface pale cream-brown.
Endemic, widespread around New Zealand including Stewart Island. Found on sheltered beaches
and harbours, lagoons, estuaries and mangrove swamps, tidal creeks, mudflats and freshwater/
brackish areas. Burrows in firm, well drained sediment that is exposed at low tide. Intertidal.
It could also be……….
Hemiplax hirtipes
McLay, C. (1988) Crabs of New Zealand. Leigh Laboratory Bulletin 22.
Sakai, K., Türkay, M. & Yang, S.-L. (2006) Revision of the Helice/Chasmagnathus complex. (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura). Abhandlungen der Senckenbergischen
Naturforschenden Gesellschaft, 565: 1–76.
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