Neoleptastacus spicatus ( Mielke, 1985 ), 2008

Sak, Serdar, Karaytuğ, Süphan & Huys, Rony, 2024, Review of Neoleptastacus Nicholls, 1945 (Harpacticoida, Arenopontiidae), including an updated key to species and proposal of Phreatipontia gen. nov., Zootaxa 5525 (1), pp. 1-66 : 27

Neoleptastacus spicatus ( Mielke, 1985)

Arenopontia spicata Mielke, 1985

Arenopontia (Arenopontia) spicata Mielke, 1985 : Bodin (1988: 162)

Neoleptastacus spicatus ( Mielke, 1985) Sak et al. (2008: 412)

Original description. Mielke (1985: 216–222; Abb. 3C, 22–25).

Additional description. Mielke (1987): 334–336; Abb. 13A.

Type locality. Chile, Valparaíso Region, Valparaíso Province, Viña del Mar, Playa de Reñaca, about 500 m from Instituto de Oceanología (University of Valparaíso); medium to coarse sand .

Body length. 300–360 (♀), 280–310 μm (♂) [ Mielke 1985]. 240–260 μm (♀), 240 μm (♂) (Coquimbo, La Herradura population); 300–330 μm (♀), 280–320 μm (♂) (Coquimbo, Las Lozas population); 270–290 μm (♀), 220–270 μm (♀) (Antofagasta population); 310–380 μm (♀), 340–350 μm (♂) (Punta Arenas population) [ Mielke 1987].

Remarks. As noted above, N. spicatus is morphologically closest to its Australian congener, N. spinicaudatus , from which it differs in the shape of the abdominal hyaline frills, the length of the inner distal seta on P2–P3 enp-2, the length:width ratio of the P5 and ornamentation of its apical spinous process.

The species is so far restricted to Chile. In addition to the type locality, Mielke (1985) recorded it also from Isla Maiquillahue (Los Lagos Region), Dichato (Biobío Region) and a second locality in Viña del Mar (Playa los Lilenes). A later paper by Mielke (1987) considerably extended the distribution of N. spicatus with records from Antofagasta (Antofagasta Region), Coquimbo (Coquimbo Region) and Punta Arenas (Magallanes and Antártica Chilena Region). The latter record is the southernmost for the family at a distance of over 3,000 km from the type locality of N. spicatus where it co-occurs with N. pacificus . Some variability was observed in body size (possibly related to sediment grain size), the size of the spinous process on the caudal ramus, and the relative setal lengths on P2 endopod and P4 exp-3 ( Mielke 1987).