(Herbst, 1796)

Carpus of chelipeds without two obvious spines on distal half of outer margin; palm of cheliped usually with a pair of blunt prominences on dorsal margin behind insertion of the dactyl, inner larger than outer; may be spinous in juveniles and young adults. Frontal lobe spines low (mean height c. 0.03 times frontal width measured between medial orbital sutures), rounded with shallow interspaces. Chelipeds, legs and abdomen all without obvious polygonal patterning for both sexes. (Davie 1999)

Frontal lobe spines low (mean height c. 0.03 times frontal width measured between medial orbital sutures), rounded with shallow interspaces. Antero-lateral carapace spines broad, with outer convex. Carpus of chelipeds usually with one small blunt prominence (may be spinous in juveniles) ventro-medially on outer margin; reduced second spine may be present dorso-distally in juveniles and young adults. Palm of cheliped usually with a pair of blunt prominences on dorsal margin behind insertion of the dactyl, inner larger than outer; may be spinous in juveniles and young adults. Chelipeds, legs and abdomen all without obvious polygonal patterning for both sexes.
Colour varies from red through brown to brownish/black depending on habitat. (Keenan et al., 1998)

Type locality: East India, probably referring to Indo-Malayan Archipelago. Herbst's type material is considered lost. A neotype designated by Keenan et al. (1998) was collected at Kupang, Indonesia.
Range: Pakistan - Karachi; Thailand - Phuket (Keenan et al., 1998); southern China - Beihai (Keenan et al., 1998); Taiwan - Kaohsiung (Keenan et al., 1998); Vietnam (Serène, 1952, Keenan et al., 1998); Thailand - Bangkok; Singapore (Keenan et al., 1998); Malaysia - Buntal, Sarawak (Keenan et al., 1998); Philippines - Panay and Mindanao (Keenan et al., 1998), Negros; Indonesia - Kupang (Keenan et al., 1998); Arafura Sea; Australia - King Sound, W.A. (Keenan et al., 1998), Weipa.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda
Class Crustacea
Order Decapoda
Suborder Pleocyemata
Infraorder Heterotremata
Superfamily Portunoidea
Family Portunidae
Subfamily Portuninae
Genus Scylla
Species Scylla olivacea

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Not included in WoRMS database

Scientific synonyms and common names

Cancer olivaceous Herbst, 1794: 157, pl. 38, fig. 3.
Scylla serrata (not Forskål, 1775) Estampador, 1949: 99, pl. 1, fig. 1. -- Serène, 1952: 134, fig. 1C, pl. 1, fig. 3, pl. 2, figs 3, C. -- Joel & Raj, 1980: 39, figs 2, 4, 6, 8, 10a-b.
Scylla olivacea Keenan et al., 1998: 233, figs 7D, 8D, 9D, 14. -- Apel & Spiridonov, 1998: 314. -- Jeng et al., 1998. -- Ng, 1998c: 1118(key), 1127, fig. -- Sakai K., 1999: 40.

Orange mud crab [English]
Mud crab, orange [English]
Akate-nokogiri-gazami [Japanese]
nokogiri-gazami, Akate- [Japanese]

Apel, M. & V.A. Spiridonov, 1998. Taxonomy and Zoogeography of the portunid crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Portunidae) of the Arabian Gulf and adjacent waters. Fauna of Arabia, 17: 159-331, figs 1-117, tables 1-7.

Estampador, E.P., 1949. Studies on Scylla (Crustacea: Portunidae). 1. Revision of the genus. The Philippine Journal of Science, 78(1): 95-108, pls 1-3.

Herbst, J.F.W., 1794. Versuch einer Naturgeschichte der Krabben und Krebse nebst einer systematischen Beschreibung ihrer verschiedenen Arten, 2(5): 147-162, pls 37-40.

Jeng, C.-H., H.-J. Lin, M.-F. Wang & C.-P. Jan, 1998. Common seashore crabs of Taichung. 90 pp. Yung-An Elementary School, Taichung. (in Chinese)

Joel, D.R. & P.J.S. Raj, 1980. Taxonomic remarks on two species of the genus Scylla de Haan (Portunidae: Brachyura) from Pulicat Lake. Journal of the Inland Fisheries Society of India, 12(2): 39-50.

Keenan, C.P., P.J.F. Davie & D.L. Mann, 1998. A revision of the genus Scylla de Haan, 1833 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Portunidae). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 46(1): 217-245, figs 1-14, tables 1-5.

Ng, P.K.L., 1998c. Crabs. In: K.E. Carpenter & N. Volker (eds.), FAO Species Identification Guide for fishery purposes. the living marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. Volume 1. Food and Agriculture Organisation, Rome: 1046-1155.

Sakai, K., 1999. J.F.W. Herbst - collection of Decapod Crustacea of the Berlin Zoologica Museum, with remarks on certain species. Naturalists, Publications of Tokushima Biological Laboratory, Shikoku University, 6: 1-45, pls 1-21.

Serène, R., 1952. Les espèces du genre Scylla à Nhatrang (Vietnam). Proceedings of the Indo-Pacific Fisheries Council, 3rd Meeting, Madras 1951, Section II: 133-137, fig. 1, pls 1-2.

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