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Geograpsus crinipes

Pāpaka (MG)

Pale Shore-Crab

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Image:	Adult male	25KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Pale Shore-Crab

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Pāpaka (MG), Pā‘akatea (MK), Pākatea (MT), Sangasangatea (TS TW), Peka ?ID (PK)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE e.Africa - Japan - Cooks - Tuamotu - Hawai‘i

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; Land, coastal, breed in the sea

KEY FEATURES: Carapace 55mm wide. Large, uniformly pale to mid-grey. Carapace flat; widest in posterior half; with transverse almost-straight lines; entire lateral margin clearly keeled; and front less than half total maximum width. Chelipeds nearly equal in male, and unequal in female; finely granular on the upper surface of the hand and moveable finger; fingers pointed and not spooned. Distinct tuft of hairs between bases of walking legs 2 and 3.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The large size and uniformly pale colour are distinctive.

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
++	P		^P

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
			++

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Geograpsus crinipes (Dana, 1851)
SYNONYMS: Grapsus crinipes

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; ARTHROPODA; CRUSTACEA; MALACOSTRACA; EUMALACOSTRACA; Eucarida; Decapoda; Reptantia; Brachyura; Brachygnatha; Brachyrhyncha; GRAPSIDAE

More Information

GENERAL NOTE: Sometimes found around houses. Some believe that killing this crab in the house results in boils because the crab at this time is possessed by the spirit of an ancestor (tupapaku).

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Cooks: (C/103, 1980s); Mauke: fieldspecimen, College, 3/2001, ID GMcC. Pukapuka: fieldspecimen+photo, 2/2004, G.McCormack with ID as Geograpsus crinipes.

References:
Special Reference: Edmondson 1959; Yaldwyn & Wodzicki 1979;

Data Update History (information):
zTXmx, zB02, zM02, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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