Hemigrapsus sexdentatus (H. Milne Edwards, 1837)

McLay, C. L. & Schubart, C. D., 2004, Short Communication On the correct name for Hemigrapsus edwardsii (Hilgendorf, 1882) (Brachyura: Varunidae) from New Zealand, Journal of Natural History 38 (6), pp. 695-704 : 699-700

Hemigrapsus sexdentatus (H. Milne Edwards, 1837) (figure 1)

Synonymy

Cyclograpsus sexdentatus H. Milne Edwards, 1837: 79 ; White, 1843: 266.

Hemigrapsus sexdentatus: Dana, 1852: 348 , pl. 22, figure 2; Filhol, 1885: 388; Chilton and Bennett, 1929: 764; Graham, 1939: 429; Powell, 1947: 40, figure 193; Richardson, 1949a: 34, figure 15; Trevarthen and Kulka, 1950: 54; Wood, 1963: 9; Bennett, 1964: 82, figures 94, 137, 138; Cuesta et al., 2001: 903, figure 3.

Heterograpsus sexdentatus: H. Milne Edwards, 1853: 192 ; Miers, 1876: 37; Kingsley, 1880: 207; Lenz, 1901: 472; Hutton, 1904: 249; Thomson, 1905: 546: 1913: 237; Thomson and Anderton, 1921: 100, two figures; Oliver, 1923: 542; Knox and Kilner, 1973: 353.

Brachynotus edwardsii Hilgendorf 1882: 70 ; Miers 1886: 264.

Hemigrapsus edwardsii: Richardson, 1949b: 130 ; Batham, 1956: 458; Knox, 1969: 547; 1975: 384; 1983: 66; Baker, 1971: 297; Knox and Bolton, 1978: 74; Roper et al., 1983: 270; Gunson, 1983: 55, one colour figure; Denny and Schiel, 2001: 927.

Hemigrapsus edwardsi: Batham, 1958: 652 ; Dell, 1963: 53, one figure; 1968: 227; Wear, 1965: 16, text figure 6G; Morton and Miller, 1968: 89, pl. 23, 1; Leslie, 1968: 90, figure 82; Wood, 1968: 93; Williams, 1969: 215; Wear, 1970: 14, figures 27–33; Hicks, 1973: 1; Morton, 1973: 118; Miller and Batt, 1973: 73, figure 89; Kitching and Lockwood, 1974: 131; Bedford and Leader, 1977: 341; 1978: 147; Marsden and Fenwick, 1978: 11; Marsden, 1981: 24; Westerkov and Probert, 1981: 128; Jones 1983: 92; Naylor and Williams, 1984: 81; Pellegrino, 1984: 251; Wear and Fielder, 1985: 68, figures 177, 178; Powell, 1987: 36, figure 193; McLay, 1988: 280, figure 62; Feldmann and McLay, 1993: 447; McLay and McQueen, 1995: 49; Gill, 1998: 41, figure 193; Poinar and Brockerhoff, 2001: 149.

Not Heterograpsus sexdentatus Lucas, 1849: 19 , pl. 2, figure 4 (= Brachynotus sexdentatus (Risso, 1827)) .

Not Heterograpsus sexdentatus Haswell, 1882: 100 (error, should be Paragrapsus laevis (Dana, 1852)) .

Not Hemigrapsus sexdentatus Knox, 1969: 547 (= Hemigrapsus crenulatus H. Milne Edwards, 1837 ).

Hemigrapsus sexdentatus is distinctive because of its dark purple colour and it is commonly known as the ‘purple rock crab’. Immature crabs have quite variable coloration with various degrees of pale mottling of the purple ground colour. Its congener, Hemigrapsus crenulatus (H. Milne Edwards, 1837) , has a dark green colour and is much more setose, especially on the pereopods.