Hemigrapsus estellinensis
| Hemigrapsus estellinensis | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Crustacea |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Decapoda |
| Infraorder: | Brachyura |
| Family: | Varunidae |
| Genus: | Hemigrapsus |
| Species: | †H. estellinensis |
| Binomial name | |
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Hemigrapsus estellinensis Creel, 1964 |
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Hemigrapsus estellinensis is an extinct species of crab, formerly endemic to the Texas Panhandle. It was discovered by Gordon C. Creel in 1962 and was probably already extinct before his description was published in 1964, after the Estelline Salt Springs where it lived were contained by the United States Army. H. estellinensis is closely related to species from the Pacific Ocean such as Hemigrapsus oregonensis, but lived 500 mi (800 km) inland in a hypersaline spring. It differed from its relatives by the pattern of spots on its back, and by the relative sizes of its limbs.
H. estellinensis has a rectangular carapace with almost parallel sides. Males have a carapace length of up to 18.5 millimetres (0.73 in) and a carapace width of up to 22 mm (0.87 in), while females have a carapace up to 17 mm (0.67 in) long and 22 mm (0.87 in) wide. The front corners of the carapace are developed into three strong teeth on each side.
The chief difference between H. estellinensis and other species in the genus is the extensive pattern of rust-red spots on the animal's "drab green" carapace.H. estellinensis also has a pair of conspicuous white spots near the ends of the H–shaped indentation on the animal's back, and another spot between each of those spots and the lateral margin of the carapace. The legs are marked with larger spots than the carapace, and both the chelipeds and the walking legs are shorter than in other species. There are no spots on the animal's underside, including the abdomen. In males, the chelipeds bear a hairy patch containing chemoreceptors on the ventral side of the claw.
Creel collected 6 males and ten females; one of the males is the holotype and all the others are paratypes. All sixteen are held in the National Museum of Natural History as specimens USNM 107855 and USNM 107856. A few living specimens were taken to Wayland College (now Wayland Baptist University), but died within 17 hours for unknown reasons. Two of the females laid eggs before dying, one laying 3,000 and the other 8,000.
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