Anoplodactylus evelinae Marcus, 1940

Müller, Hans-Georg & Krapp, Franz, 2009, The pycnogonid fauna (Pycnogonida, Arthropoda) of the Tayrona National Park and adjoining areas on the Caribbean coast of Colombia 2319, Zootaxa 2319 (1), pp. 1-138 : 93-95

Anoplodactylus evelinae Marcus, 1940

Fig. 49

Anoplodactylus evelinae Marcus, 1940: 55 . Hedgpeth 1948 Proc. U.S. natn. Mus., 97 (3216): 232. Sawaya 1950: 72. Child 1979: 53. Stock 1979: 27. Child 1982: 368. Stock 1986: 404.

Anoplodactylus (Labidodactylus) evelinae ,—Stock 1954: 128. Stock 1975: 1083.

Material: 9.— 1 male, 1 juv. ( SMF 1124 ), coral rubble, 15 m, 1.VII.1985 . 1 juv. ( SMF 1125 ), same locality, 12 m, 29.XI.1985 . 4 juv. ( SMF 1126 ), same locality, 6–7 m, 3.XII.1985 . 1 ( SMF 1127 ), same locality, 16 m, 2.I.1986 . 1 male, 1 juv. ( ZSM), coral rubble colonized by hdroids and bryozoans, 30 m, 10.II.1986 .

10.— 2 male, 1 fem. (gravid), 1 juv. ( ZSM), algal turf on rock, lower mesolittoral, 10.V.1985 . 1 male, 1 fem. (gravid) ( SMF 1128 ), algal turf on rock, lower mesolittoral, 12.V.1985 .

12.— 1 juv. ( SMF 1129 ), coral rubble, 18 m, 2.X.1985 .

14.— 1 fem. (gravid) ( SMF 1130 ), coral rubble, 2 m, 2.IX.1985. 1 male ( SMF 1131 ) , coral rubble, 8.XI.1985. 1 male ( SMF 1132 ) , coral rubble, 1.5–5 m, 7.I.1986.

16.— 1 male, 4 fem. (gravid) ( ZMA 3357 ), algal stands on coral blocks, lower mesolittoral, 22.V.1985 . 1 fem. (gravid) ( SMF 1133 ), on red and brown algae on coral blocks, mesolittoral, 15.VII.1985 .

17.— 1 fem. ( SMF 1134 ), on Cnidoscyphus among blocks of stones, mesolittoral, 7.VI.1985 .

19.— 1 male, 1 fem. (gravid) ( SMF 1135 ), Thalassia , 5 l of substratum, 0.5–4 m, 27.VI.1985 . 2 juv. ( SMF 1136 ), Thalassia , 5 l of substratum, 0.5–4 m, 7.I.1986 . 1 fem. (gravid) ( SMF 1137 ), Thalassia , 5 l of substratum, 0.5–4 m, 2.IV.1986 . 2 fem., 1 juv. ( SMF 1138 ), Thalassia , 5 l of substratum, 0.5–4 m, 2.V.1986 .

20.— 1 fem. (gravid) ( SMF 1139 ), on Sargassum cymosum from coral blocks, 5 l of substratum, 0–0.5 m, 8.XI.1985 .

21.— 2 males, 2 fem. (gravid) ( SMF 1140 ), on Digenia simplex from coral blocks, 5l of substratum, mesolittoral, 27.VI.1985 . 1 male, 1 fem. (gravid), 1 juv. ( SMF 1141 ), on Digenia simplex from coral blocks, 5 l of substratum, mesolittoral, 13.VIII.1985 . 1 male, 1 juv. ( MNHN), on Digenia simplex from coral blocks, 5l of substratum, mesolittoral, 2.X.1985 . 2 fem. (gravid), 6 juv. ( SMF 1142 ), on Digenia simplex from coral blocks, 5 l of substratum, mesolittoral, 8.XI.1985 . 2 males (gravid), 2 fem., 11 juv. ( SMF 1143 ), on Digenia simplex from coral blocks, 5 l of substratum, mesolittoral, 12.II.1986 . 1 male, 1 fem., 3 juv. ( SMF 1144 ), on Digenia simplex from coral blocks, 5 l of substratum, mesolittoral, 3.III.1986 .

22.— 2 males, 4 fem. (gravid), 2 juv. ( SMF 1145 ), on Halimeda from reef top, lower mesolittoral, 14.IV.1986 .

24.— 1 juv. ( SMF 1146 ), Thalassia mingled with corallinacean algae, 2 m, 4.IX.1985 . 1 fem. (gravid) ( SMF 1147 ), Thalassia , 1 m, 4.IX.1985 . 2 males (ov.), 5 juv. ( ZFMK), Thalassia mingled with corallinacean algae, 1 m, 21.I.1986 .

25.— 2 males (1 ov.), 2 fem. (gravid), 3 juv. ( SMF 1148 ), on Cnidoscyphus , among mangroves, 1 m, 1.XI.1985 .

27.— 1 male, 4 fem. (3 gravid) ( SMF 1149 ), on coral rubble in Thalassia , 1 m, 1.XI.1985 .

28.— 2 males ( INVEMAR), under stones, ca. 0.5 m, 4.IV.1986 .

32.— 1 fem. (gravid), 1 juv. ( SMF 1150 ), from brown algae, mesolittoral, 3.VIII.1985 .

36.— 1 juv. ( SMF 1151 ), coral rubble, 11–16 m, 23.IX.1985 .

39.— 1 juv. ( SMF 1152 ), on stones, mesolittoral, 17.III.1986 . 1 male, 1 fem. (gravid) ( SMF 1153 ), same locality, 14.IV.1986 .

42.— 1 male, 5 juv. ( SMF 1154 ), coral rubble, 13 m, 28.II.1986 .

43.— 1 male, 3 juv. ( SMF 1155 ), Thalassia , 1–1.5 m, 25.II.1986 .

44.— 1 juv. ( SMF 1156 ), Syringodium , 1.5–2m, 25.II.1986 .

45.— 4 males, 1 fem. (gravid), 1 juv. ( SMF 1157 ), on algae, hydroids and bryozoans on rock, 6–10 m, 25.IX.1985 .

Description of male: Dorsal trunk outline oval, robust, segments 3 and 4 fused. Crurigers slightly broader than long, anteriormost three separated by 1/3 to 1/2 of their diameter, crurigers 3 and 4 touching, all crurigers without any tubercles, but with a short dorso-distal seta. Ocular process very low, broadly rounded, with relatively large, distinctly pigmented eyes. Trunk segments 1 and 2 each with a flat conical and apically rounded tubercle in midline near distal suture. Abdomen nearly horizontal, very robust, surpassing 4 th crurigers by less than half of its length. Proboscis cylindrical, very robust, distally obtusely rounded.

Cheliphores relatively long and slender, scape 3.5 times as long as diameter, barely longer than proboscis; chela with some short setae and relatively short, strongly curved fingers; cutting edges of both fingers armed with 4 pointed teeth, movable finger in addition with a proximal short seta. Ovigers short and robust, 6- articled; articles 1 and 2 very robust, about as long as their diameter; articles 3 and 4 the longest, of nearly same length; distal article smallest, oval, 3/4 length of fifth, both with few short setae.

Legs very robust: coxae 1–3 and tibia 2 of similar length, barely longer than their diameter; femur the most robust article, 1.2 times as long as tibia 1; cement gland on dorso-median aspect of femur, close to half length. oval in dorsal view; its aperture slightly higher than femur and craterlike; tarsus produced ventrolaterally to touch the proximal margin of the propodal heel, with a short distal seta; propodus almost straight, with rather long and slender heel, proximally armed with one short and very robust spine and two smaller anterior ones directed distally; sole with 5 small anteriorly curved spines frequently flanked by a short seta; distal cutting lamella relatively short, less than 20 % of sole length, on both sides accompanied by a seta. Main claw robust and strongly curved, its tip reaching back to two anterior-most spines of heel; auxiliary claws absent.

Measurements: Length of trunk 0.68; width 0.44 (across 2 nd crurigers); length of abdomen 0.20; length of proboscis 0.38. Length of cheliphore scape 0.26; of chela 0.13. Lengths of articles of leg 3: coxa 1—0.12; coxa 2—0.13; coxa 3—0.11; femur 0.29; tibia 1—0.26; tibia 2—0.11; tarsus 0.11; propodus 0.26; main claw 0.17.

Female: Differing from male by the sex specific characters only.

Postlarva: Robust, fourth legs as stumps only, close together and without articulations. Total length 0.51.

Remarks: Anoplodactylus evelinae appears to be related to A. arescus Marcus, 1959 from Brazil and tropical Indo-Pacific, as well as to A. tarsalis Stock, 1968 , which is known from the Philippine Islands (Stock 1968b: 52; Child 1988: 20) and Kenya (Müller 1990: 78) only. All of these species share a compact build with very similar tarsi and propodi. A. evelinae is distinguished from both other species by its broad cement gland pore without a tube-like opening, from A. tarsalis additionally by the un-toothed chela fingers. Stock (1954a: 128) proposed a subgenus Labidodactylus for this complex of species, which in the opinion of the first author is regarded as slightly premature, given our incomplete knowledge on this speciose genus which is in need of a revision.

The species is very frequent in the research area and does not show a distinct habitat preference. Substrata sampled included algae, seagrass meadows, hydroids and coral rubble, they were colonized with equal frequency. The vertical distribution encompassed the entire research range from 0– 30m. Even though continually collected, phenology is not clearly interpretable. 5 males only, collected in months I, II and XI were ovigerous, whereas females contained (at least in part) eggs in their ovaria except in the months I, II, VII, X and XII.

Distribution: Widely distributed in the tropical western Atlantic, from Florida southward to Brazil. From the Pacific coast of Panamá ( Child 1979: 53) and the eastern Atlantic ( Congo, Fage 1949a: 27) there are just single records. Stock (1986: 404) lists the regions where the species was sampled.

Figures

FIGURE 49. Anoplodactylus evelinae Marcus, 1940: A A male trunk dorsal, B male trunk lateral, C postlarva dorsal, D postlarva ventral, E male cheliphore, F male oviger, G male leg 3, H propodus and terminal claw of leg 3, I cement gland pore lateral, J cement gland pore in dorsal view.