PORT PHILLIP BAY


Friendly Hermit Crab 

Areopaguristes tuberculatus (Whitelegge, 1900)

View scientific description and taxonomy

Scientific Details

Rostrum broad not exceeding lateral projections. Ocular scales simple acute spines. Antennule peduncles longer than eyestalks. Chelipeds unequal; left propodus with strong tuberculate projections on outer surface. Pereopods 2 and 3 with dactyli longer than propodi. Pereopod 4 not chelate. No pleurobranch above pereopod 5. Pleopods 1 and 2 paired in male and forming copulatory apparatus, in female only pleopods 1 paired. Female often with brood pouch on left side of abdomen enclosing eggs on the pleopods and covering dorsal side. Telson posterior lobes spinose.

Source: Poore, G.C.B. (2004) Marine decapod Crustacea of southern Australia. A guide to identification (with chapter on Stomatopoda by Shane Ahyong). CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, 574 pp.

Taxonomy

Phylum:
Arthropoda
Subphylum:
Crustacea
Class:
Malacostraca
Subclass:
Eumalacostraca
Superorder:
Eucarida
Order:
Decapoda
Suborder:
Pleocyemata
Infraorder:
Anomura
Family:
Diogenidae
Genus:
Areopaguristes
Species:
tuberculatus

General Description

Left claw (cheliped) much larger than right, sixth segment (propodus) grossly tuberculate. Rostrum short, not exceeding lateral projections. Colour in life unknown. Carapace up to 5 mm long.

Biology

Many specimens of this small species are associated with colonies of encrusting bryozoans which surround the mouth of the shell in which the animal lives.

Habitat

Shallow subtidal, to depths of 60 m.

Soft substrates

Seagrass meadows

Distribution guide

Southern temperate oceans, including south-eastern Australia.

Species Group

Hermit Crabs

Depth

Shallow (1-30 m)
Deep ( > 30 m)

Water Column

On or near sea floor

Max Size

5 mm

Diet

Organic matter

Commercial Species

No

Global Dispersal

Recorded in Australia

Species Code

MoV 696

Conservation Status

  • DSE Advisory List : Not listed
  • EPBC Act 1999 : Not listed
  • IUCN Red List : Not listed

Author

article author Taylor, J.

Dr. Jo Taylor is the Sciences Collections Online Coordinator at Museum Victoria.

Author

article author Poore, G.C.B.

Dr. Gary Poore is Principal Curator Emeritus at Museum Victoria.

citation

Cite this page as:
Taylor, J. & Poore, G.C.B., 2011, Friendly Hermit Crab, Areopaguristes tuberculatus, in Taxonomic Toolkit for marine life of Port Phillip Bay, Museum Victoria, accessed 25 Feb 2025, http://136.154.202.208:8098/species/5462

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