Crustacea research

Te Papa's crustacean research currently concentrates on the taxonomy of lobsters, shrimps and prawns.

New species of lobsters from New Zealand and the South Atlantic are being described.

The work of revising the taxonomy of New Zealand's shrimps and prawns is also under way.  An important impetus for this work is to gain enough knowledge of their identity and relationships to contribute to a book of all of the lobsters, crabs, shrimps, and prawns of New Zealand.

In past years, research on the collections undertaken by museum staff has included crabs, shrimps and prawns, tiny harpacticoid copepods ('water fleas'), and the larval stags of spiny and slipper lobsters.

Significant current research by external specialists includes the king crabs of New Zealand and Australia, and the New Zealand Tanaidacea, an order of small crustaceans related to hoppers and wood lice.