Neolithodes brodiei is a species of king crab which is native to New Zealand and its adjacent waters.[3] It lives at a depth of 500–1,240 metres (1,640–4,070 ft) but is typically found within a depth of 950–1,150 metres (3,120–3,770 ft).[3] It has a deep-red colour, and its carapace has many small spinules along with larger spines.[3] It is classified as "Not Threatened" by the New Zealand Department of Conservation.[4]
Neolithodes brodiei | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Malacostraca |
Order: | Decapoda |
Suborder: | Pleocyemata |
Infraorder: | Anomura |
Family: | Lithodidae |
Genus: | Neolithodes |
Species: | N. brodiei
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Binomial name | |
Neolithodes brodiei Dawson & Yaldwyn, 1970[2]
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In 2001, a paper was published in Zoosystema which claimed to have found a specimen of N. brodiei in Vanuatu;[5] however, this was later determined to be a yet-undescribed species.[3] Likewise, a 2005 paper in Polar Biology claimed to have found four specimens off the Balleny Islands in the Southern Ocean,[6] but these were misidentified and were later determined to be a new species called Neolithodes yaldwyni.[3] It was also thought to occur in the Tasman Sea, but this was also determined to be a new species called Neolithodes flindersi.[3]
N. brodiei has allegedly been found in the Haima cold seeps in the northwestern South China Sea at depths of approximately 1,300–1,400 metres (4,300–4,600 ft), but it may only occasionally visit the ecosystem.[7]
"Neolithodes" is derived from Greek and Latin and means "new stone-crab",[8] while "brodiei" takes its namesake from J. W. Brodie, then-Director of the New Zealand Oceanographic Institute.[2]