Help the HCA! - We Need Species ID Photos!

[Rocky]

You could psot them just in case... you know, so we can see them..

[KittyyKattyy]

Are there any species that have slightly redish eyes? Or is that weird for a hermie?

[Rocky]

Their eyes can be all sorts of colours, some are more common then others, but any neat eye colour would definately be worth posting a picture or two

[Mokulele_Hawai'i]

May be any of these pictures will help:

C.cavipes



( in sinistral shell - with feeding claw as B P ):

( juvenile )


C.pseudorugosus









C.purpureus









C.violascens
( Western-Indonesian variant - juvenile )

( Western Indonesian variant - adult )

( Zebra-sunset / Eastern-Indonesian variants ) :

[Crab Addict]

So C.pseudorugosus does exist! These photos look nothing like tony coenobitas website, but the pics on his site just looked like straws to me.
Either way, beautiful crabs! I wonder if we will ever get these in the states like we got blueberries. Beautiful pics Mokulele_Hawai'i!

Also an added observation, the shield leg of your cavipes seems to have a much sharper angle than violas.

Anyway, here's some old pics I can give you, my nice camera broke so I can't give you any recent ones.

[Mokulele_Hawai'i]

Either way, beautiful crabs! I wonder if we will ever get these in the states like we got blueberries. Beautiful pics Mokulele_Hawai'i!

Thank you very much, Crab Addict ... enjoy the pictures.
By the way ... 2 weeks ago I supplied a company in Indonesia whose boss told me that the C.purpureus would fly to London and Los Angeles. But of I course I could not ask to him to which pet wholesaler he supplies in California ... .

So C.pseudorugosus does exist! These photos look nothing like tony coenobitas website, but the pics on his site just looked like straws to me.

You're correct ... what is described as "C.pseudorugosus" on that website is just C.perlatus with color morph. It's commonly found on some islands of Western Indonesia. They live together with the "regular" strawberries ( i.e. the solid red strawberries ). The C.perlatus' color may vary from white with very weak orange tone to very dark red ( almost black ) -> just like C.rugosus may appear in pure white, grey, olive, bluish gray, peach, pink, red, or black. Sometimes, some of my solid red strawberry hermit crabs turn into white & red or "candy-cane pattern" after molting ( I don't know what makes that ) - so there's no way to say that such red/orange & white C.perlatus as "C.pseudorugosus".

[Crab Addict]

Wow, that dark straw is stunning! I was wondering, you described the sunset violas as the "easters indonesian variant". Does this mean that zebra sunsets have their own population and aren't just a random color morph that happens from time to time?

[Curlz]

hi,

scientificly there are no subspecies of the species!
"Sunset" or "spec blue" or "black legged" are just designations of some special colour of a species. For me the "zebra sunset" is just a vioalscens with a little different color (in the juvenile stage, about to change the color, mine looked similar . And maybe they come from a different locality. (not enough nformation abozt the species at all)
Imho: People tend to categorize everything. But to identify LHC is very difficult. You cannot always use the body colour to identify, you have to look after the special characteristics. And if there is a LHC which is not common, it sometimes happens that a "new species" is born


officially approved and accepted are the following known species of the genus "Coenobita": (see WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species)
Coenobita brevimanus Dana, 1852
Coenobita carnescens Dana, 1851
Coenobita cavipes Stimpson, 1858
Coenobita clypeatus (Fabricius, 1787)
Coenobita compressus H. Milne Edwards, 1836
Coenobita longitarsis De Man, 1902
Coenobita olivieri Owen, 1839
Coenobita perlatus H. Milne Edwards, 1837
Coenobita purpureus Stimpson, 1858
Coenobita rubescens Greeff, 1884
Coenobita rugosus H. Milne Edwards, 1837
Coenobita scaevola (Forskål, 1775)
Coenobita spinosus H. Milne Edwards, 1837
Coenobita variabilis McCulloch, 1909
Coenobita violascens Heller, 1862


the following species are unclear, too. Only a few picture are shown in the www.
Coenobita rubescens Greeff, 1884
Coenobita longitarsis De Man, 1902
Coenobita olivieri Owen, 1839
Coenobita carnescens Dana, 1851
Coenobita pseudorugosus Nakasone, 1988


C. pseudorugosus is a holotype: (see WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species)

holotype = The specimen of an insect or other animal which is designated in an official publication when the organism is first named, as representing what is meant by the new name. The holotype specimen may or may not be the first ever collected, and may or may not be a good example of its kind, but it is the official designation. Sometimes, other specimens are cited in the same publication which are called secondary types.

And it is an unclear species. There are only rare information about this species. Most of all crabs namend "pseudorugus" were juvenile violascens (violas), perlatus (strassberries) or rugosus (ruggies).
And still I have not found a scientific documentation about the characteristics of this species. I only found that they are holotype, and only seen on Cebu Island, Philippines.

The pictures of these "pseudorugosus" can be found recently in the www. That's why I am still skeptical. For me the looks like rugosus (eyestalks, shape of big claw) or a cavipes. But I must confess, that I only saw very different pictures of cavipes. Some were only green (like on Tony Coenobita side)m and others were colorful. (Pictures of LHC in Singapore). And if I compare,
these "pseudo"s got some same characteristics as purpureus (blueberry).... who knows who knows. Still skeptical.


I am about to get in contact with Dr. Rafael Lemaitre of Department of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History to aks for more informations. (Dr. Patsy A. McLaughlin was a source for the taxon details, but she passed away in 2011)

[Mokulele_Hawai'i]

Wow, that dark straw is stunning! I was wondering, you described the sunset violas as the "easters indonesian variant". Does this mean that zebra sunsets have their own population and aren't just a random color morph that happens from time to time?

Zebra sunset (i.e. C.violascens with black/brown color and white/yellow "ring" patterns on the legs ) inhabits the areas / islands from the Makassar Strait to the eastern parts of Indonesia ( including Moluccas, Nusa Tenggara/Lesser Sunda Islands, and the Indonesian territory of Papua Island ). The "ring" tend to dissolve when they are adult.
I cannot find the similar color variation on C.violascens that inhabit Sumatra, Java, and Borneo/Kalimantan Island ( but I think, in Eastern Kalimantan/Borneo such color pattern also exists - because that area faces directly to Makassar Strait ).

[HermitCrabingrid]

My micro Puple pincher

[HermitCrabingrid]

The pp Munchkin


It's too small for its shell and is half white

Ecudarian hermit crab Quito





Coconut the ecudarian





Carlos the ecudarian



Tweety the e!

[Skymall007]

I hope this gets archived. I love looking at all the pictures =) I would love to post some of mine but the best ones are when my E's were in painted shells. =(

[Rocky]

I hope this gets archived. I love looking at all the pictures =) I would love to post some of mine but the best ones are when my E's were in painted shells. =(

They could crop out the shell and get some really good close up eye/claw shots

[Skymall007]

That is true =) I shall see if I can get some pictures. My last hermit in a painted shell FINALLY changed. He is an E of course. I thought he never would. I'm so proud of him.

[Tetra4CClyPtus]

Ceonobita Clypeatus
Hansel


Gretel

Hexxus Newly Molted, she is beautiful


Lexxie

Well get more pics , when they cooperate heheh