{{Short description|Genus of hermit crab}} {{Speciesbox | image = Patagurus.jpg | image_caption = Holotype male | taxon = Patagurus rex | parent_authority = Anker & Paulay, 2013 | authority = Anker & Paulay, 2013 }}
'''''Patagurus''''' is a monotypic genus of hermit crab, containing just '''''Patagurus rex''''',<ref name=WoRMS/> that was described from one specimen dredged from the ocean off the coast of French Polynesia. It has independently evolved a hard, protective carapace similar to true crabs, and is an example of carcinization.<ref name=paper/>
==Discovery== ''Patagurus rex'' was first discovered in 2009 by a dredge collection from a depth of {{convert|400|m}} near Moorea Island, of the French Polynesian Society Islands. The research expedition which collected the crab was organized by the Tropical Deep-Sea Benthos initiative of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in support of the Moorea Biocode Project.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Livingston |first1=Stephenie |title=Remarkable new true crab-like hermit discovered |url=https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/remarkable-new-true-crab-like-hermit-discovered/ |access-date=2 October 2025 |work=Research News |publisher=Florida Museum |date=13 December 2013}}</ref>
==Description== ''Patagurus rex'' superficially resembles species of ''Porcellanopagurus'' and ''Solitariopagurus'', especially in the sclerotization of the carapace. The most unusual features of this specimen include the almost completely sclerotized carapace, with an abundance of tubercles on dorsal surface and strongly expanded lateral lobes, and a greatly reduced pleon concealed by a small bivalve shell the crab carries. The unique combination of these and other features suggests that this hermit crab represents a distinct lineage in the phylogenetic proximity of ''Porcellanopagurus'' and ''Solitaripagurus''. Therefore, the specimen was placed in a new genus, which was formally described in 2013.<ref name=paper>{{cite journal |last1=Anker |first1=Arthur |last2=Paulay |first2=Gustav |name-list-style=amp |title=A remarkable new crab-like hermit crab (Decapoda: Paguridae) from French Polynesia, with comments on carcinization in the Anomura |journal=Zootaxa |date=22 October 2013 |volume=3722 |issue=2 |pages=293–300 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.3722.2.9 }} {{Free-content attribution |documentURL= <!-- The URL of the work --> |license statement URL= <!-- The URL of the license statement of the work if not included within the document --> |license= [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ CC-BY-3.0] |this= yes }}</ref>
==Etymology== The genus is named after eminent carcinologist Patsy Ann McLaughlin. The generic name is a combination of McLaughlin's preferred first name and the Greek word ''pagourus'' (a kind of crab), which was the origin for the nominal pagurid genus, ''Pagurus''.<ref name=paper/>
==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=WoRMS>{{cite WoRMS |title=''Patagurus'' Anker & Paulay, 2013 |year=2026 |id=743495 |db=DecaNet |access-date=11 May 2026}}</ref> }}
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Category:Hermit crabs Category:Monotypic crustacean genera Category:Crabs of the Pacific Ocean Category:Crustaceans described in 2013