| Macrolabrum maui|
Bird & Webber, 2015 || photo: Jean-Claude Stahl
A new species of pagurapseudid, Macrolabrum maui, is described from the lower eulittoral rocky shore on the East Coast of the North Island, New Zealand. It is similar to M. haikung from Bass Strait, Australia and M. distonyx from New Caledonia. Males and females show little dimorphism. Typical of the subfamily Pagurapseudinae, M. maui inhabits shells of micro-molluscs such as the gastropods Eatoniella, Merelina, and Pisinna. A dichotomous key to the species of Macrolabrum is given. Possible competition for micro-mollusc shells between small pagurideans, notably their glaucothoe stage, and pagurapseudids is considered based on their convergent morphologies and on body sizes.
Keywords: Crustacea, glaucothoe, hermit-crabs, Macrolabrum, megalopa, micro-molluscs, Pagurapseudidae, Pagurapseudinae, taxonomy
Bird & Webber. 2015. The First pagurapseudid Species (Peracarida: Tanaidacea) from New Zealand with remarks on paguridean (Decapoda: Paguridea) and pagurapseudid convergence and competition. Zootaxa. 3995(5): 149-168. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3995.1.15
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa #CritteroftheWeek
Empty gastropod shells are usually prime real estate for #hermit crabs, which are decapod crustaceans with specially designed appendages to hold onto the shell. This week we bring you a very peculiar find – the first description in New Zealand of a tanaid (a distant cousin of the hermit crab) living inside a tiny gastropod shell! This new species has just been published by some colleagues (Bird & Webber, 2015) and they have kindly shared their images with us. The new species has been named Macrolabrum maui after two different ‘Maui’s’. The first is the Māori mythological character #Maui, whom emerged from the sea wrapped up in seaweed by spirits, alluding to the fact that the new species was found among coralline and brown algae. And the second reason it was named maui, is after a well-known holiday camper-van hire firm in New Zealand alluding to the use of the gastropod shell as a mobile home in this family.