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New Hermit Crab Species


johnmaloney

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Check out Phmiochirus holthuisi. It's not a great match visually, but seems to fit by size and distribution. Common name is red stripe hermit crab. Perhaps they vary pretty widely by populations. Just a first idea.

 

A few others, I'm not going back for the latin name as they just dont make it for various reasons.... The starry eyed hermit. Size, color, and distribution fit great, but yours dont seem to have blue eyes. As well as a species of anemone hermit from Lembeh straits. Those get bigger, and locale is obviously an issue. However, that one got me to thinking. Perhaps yours are, and so skittish because they have no anemones. 

 

Get me a better pic, so I have something to work with.

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I also found this picture of what they called a red banded hermit. No Latin name, but the picture is about on par with yours. Meaning, I can't really tell much from it.

🙂

 

xvi10320.jpg

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On 11/3/2018 at 3:57 PM, RayWhisperer said:

😴

That is him! I know it. Just out of picture range. The Shy Hermit crab. 🙂

 

Well check out that ID. Not coming up for me.

 

I am cycling an aquarium now to take a video of the crab and then still frame capture him. New tank won’t have any blue light to distort the color too. 

 

No luck on anything exciting or new. Bad season. Water is all murky. I felt around for awhile out there. But they mocked me. Collected a few Cerithiopsidae. I have a book out of copyright I can copy to here for you later along with a picture. See if you agree with my identification. I will @ you. 

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1 hour ago, RayWhisperer said:

Check out Phmiochirus holthuisi. It's not a great match visually, but seems to fit by size and distribution. Common name is red stripe hermit crab. Perhaps they vary pretty widely by populations. Just a first idea.

 

A few others, I'm not going back for the latin name as they just dont make it for various reasons.... The starry eyed hermit. Size, color, and distribution fit great, but yours dont seem to have blue eyes. As well as a species of anemone hermit from Lembeh straits. Those get bigger, and locale is obviously an issue. However, that one got me to thinking. Perhaps yours are, and so skittish because they have no anemones. 

 

Get me a better pic, so I have something to work with. I have media I can move in to instant cycle  

His eyes maybe blue up close. I am going to run over there in a few. 

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Well, I looked up red banded and came up with a few hits. The latin name came back as Paguristes erythrops, however all the pics looked like starry eyed hermits. Gonna go back and check their latin name. I suspect it's the same. But I imagine you know how awful common names are. There are probably 13 "red banded hermit crabs".

 

Nope. Stareye hermits are Dardanus venosus, or something like that. And blue eye are Paguristes sericeus. Those match up size wise to what little I could find by the name red banded hermit. 2.5", so a little bigger than a dwarf type. However. They dont look anything like yours. But, all the pictures I found were specimens from the Bahamas, cozumel, or Mexico, no florida images. So, again, maybe geographical variances.

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Oh, dont bother to @ me, I dont have that shit set up. Just PM me, and I'll bring it back here after. If that doesnt work, PM me for my email and well do it that way. I'm open for any way other than a social media style way of doing things.

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6 hours ago, RayWhisperer said:

Check out Phmiochirus holthuisi. It's not a great match visually, but seems to fit by size and distribution. Common name is red stripe hermit crab. Perhaps they vary pretty widely by populations. Just a first idea.

 

A few others, I'm not going back for the latin name as they just dont make it for various reasons.... The starry eyed hermit. Size, color, and distribution fit great, but yours dont seem to have blue eyes. As well as a species of anemone hermit from Lembeh straits. Those get bigger, and locale is obviously an issue. However, that one got me to thinking. Perhaps yours are, and so skittish because they have no anemones. 

 

Get me a better pic, so I have something to work with.

Got a camera on him. Just a matter of time now. Daughter got bored so we came home. By tomorrow, a still frame that will be *epic* I am sure.

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Well, since the EPIC pic is proving too elusive, let's go through a few characteristics. 

 

Is it right or left handed? 

Is/are the claw/s robust or kinda small?

Are there any markings on the eye stalks? 

What color are the eyes? 

Lots of hairs, few hairs, or no hairs?

 

 

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Sounds like a good strategy.

 

That is the best look I have had so far. Found another hermit I am new to as last night. Will post a picture after some sleep. He isn't shy, will be easy.

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44 minutes ago, johnmaloney said:

 after some sleep. 

I need that, too. Stupid snow not giving me more than a couple hours any night this week. Freezing rain tomorrow. Yay.

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Is it right or left handed?  No

Is/are the claw/s robust or kinda small? Small, Uniform in size. They are banded and match the legs. 

Are there any markings on the eye stalks? They appear pink

What color are the eyes?  edit -white

Lots of hairs, few hairs, or no hairs? If some, they are small and hard to see

 

Legs appear to be white, bleeding into pink and then a dark red when under bright light. Both legs have 4 red bands that I can see.  Really looks like that red banded hermit. I have a video that is much much better than all these pictures being uploaded soon to facebook. Will link here soon. Facebook is now my video link for NR, is there a better one?

https://www.facebook.com/reef.cleaners

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Between books and google, I'm out of new ideas. All but one of the pics of the red striped have blue eyes. The black eyed specimen was from a different location, so perhaps it's a geographical variant. Most of what I've found states a max size of 4 inches, so it's not a small animal. Bothell the red stripe and red banded have 4 red bands. Red stripe, however, have white eyes, and are a small species. 

 

The white hermit looks like a reticulated hermit. Is the other one a new animal, or just another pic of the one we're tentatively calling a red banded?

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Your picture of the red banded hermit was the closest I have seen. Will use that as a common name and try to find a Latin name in the mean time. I took the video post down it was 2 minutes and only had 4 useful seconds will reupload a shorter one. Going to take one of these guys to the local scientists. See what they say. 

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That is what it was called in that picture you had but it wasn’t that species I don’t think and neither is this one. It just works for a shop name instead of “mystery hermit”. I guess “mystery hermit” is shorter now that I think about it. 

4857A75C-35FB-47FA-981D-CD44FAF1CF2B.jpeg

947048A3-378E-467E-9A7D-756E98073004.jpeg

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On 11/25/2018 at 11:12 AM, johnmaloney said:

I am on it, I swear. I just found out something cooler in the mean time. iPhones can do time lapse videos, and guess who has an iPhone? I have been trying to get time lapse photos forever, I just suck at everything A/V. But now....check it out- 

 

 

 

John Maloney; master salesmen. 

 

My desire for hermit crabs has risen 746% since watching this video.  

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  • 2 weeks later...

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