Geosesarma dennerle
Geosesarma dennerle:
Geosesarma dennerle Ng, Schubart & Lukhaup, 2015 is a small species of terrestrial freshwater Brachyuran crab endemic to Java, Indonesia. It is commonly known as the Purple Vampire Crab and the specific epithet gets its name from the german company Dennerle who supported/funded Lukhaup’s expedition. This species was described by Peter K. L. Ng, Christoph D. Schubart & Christian Lukhaup in 2018 in the paper “New species of “vampire crabs” (Geosesarma De Man, 1892) from central Java, Indonesia, and the identity of Sesarma (Geosesarma) nodulifera De Man, 1892 (Crustacea, Brachyura, Thoracotremata, Sesarmidae)”.
Geosesarma dennerle as described below by Ng, Schubart, & Lukhaup (2018) is visually colored with the anterior half of the carapace and ambulatory legs being violet purple to purplish-brown and the posterior half of the carapace being cream to yellowish-white. While this is the typical color pattern the carapace in some specimens can be predominantly cream colored with only the anterior edge purple. The chelae are also a bright purple with the eyes being contrasting bright yellow. Until reaching large adulthood sizes the chelae may appear greyish-purple to pale purple and even appearing almost white in juveniles and smaller adults.
Size of Geosesarma dennerle:
The male holotype carapace measured 14.4 x 14.0mm and additional males paratypes similarly tending to have a more squarish crapace compared to the female paratype whose width tended to be wider than it is long; one ovigerous female measuring 12.0mm x 10.6mm and some other females from the holotype location being 13.5mm x 11.8mm (Ng, Schubart, & Lukhaup, 2018).
Habitat of Geosesarma dennerle:
In the wild Geosesarma dennerle is found inhabiting the slopes of a small valley near the edge of a small creek, living under and around rocks under dense vegetation (Ng, Schubart, Lukhaup, 2018). Like other Geosesarma individuals were also located in burrows close to the water line with juveniles staying in closer proximity to the stream source.
Like Geosesarma bicolor it should be noted that the creek bed walls that the burrows of G. dennerle were found in was composed of a heavy clay-based soil composition interspersed with rocks and plant matter with the surrounding area above the banks being densely vegetated.
Below is a video of footage from the Dennerle funded expedition where Geosesarma dennerle was described.
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References:
WoRMS (2022). Geosesarma dennerle Ng, Schubart & Lukhaup, 2015. Accessed at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=881927 on 2022-10-08
iNaturalist. (2022). Purple Vampire Crab (Geosesarma dennerle). https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/639122-Geosesarma-dennerle
Ng, P, K, L., Sschubart, C, D., & Lukhaup, C. (2018). New species of “vampire crabs” (Geosesarma De Man, 1892) from central Java, Indonesia, and the identity of Sesarma (Geosesarma) nodulifera De Man, 1892 (Crustacea, Brachyura, Thoracotremata, Sesarmidae). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 63, 3-13. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:9F76CF88-A3DD-4F0E-B348-EEB9558DBBC4
Garnelio.de. (2016). Geosesarma Biotope - Gesprochen von Chris Lukhaup. Youtube Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=210lWbLvbX4