Stalk-eyed mud crab

The stalk-eyed mud crab (Macrophthalmus hirtipes) is a marine large-eyed crab of the family Macrophthalmidae, endemic to New Zealand including Campbell Island.^[2] It grows to around 30 millimetres (1.2 in) shell width.^[2] It is either the only species in the subgenus Hemiplax^[3] and the most basal species in the genus Macrophthalmus, or the only species in the sister genus Hemiplax.^[4]

Stalk-eyed mud crab
Stalk-eyed mud crab at Manukau Harbour in Auckland
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Malacostraca
Order:	Decapoda
Suborder:	Pleocyemata
Infraorder:	Brachyura
Family:	Macrophthalmidae
Genus:	Macrophthalmus
Species:	M. hirtipes
Binomial name
Macrophthalmus hirtipes (Jacquinot in Hombron & Jacquinot, 1846)
Synonyms [1]
Cleistostoma hirtipes (Hombron & Jacquinot, 1846) Macrophthalmus (Hemiplax) hirtipes (Hombron & Jacquinot, 1846) Metaplax hirtipes Heller, 1865