Anoplodactylus glandulifer Stock, 1954

Arango, Claudia P., 2003, Sea spiders (Pycnogonida, Arthropoda) from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia: new species, new records and ecological annotations, Journal of Natural History 37 (22), pp. 2723-2772 : 2750-2752

Anoplodactylus glandulifer Stock, 1954

Anoplodactylus glandulifer Stock, 1954: 80–84 , figure 36; 1992: 94; 1994: 59; Child, 1982b:

273–274; 1988a: 59; 1991: 143–144 (literature); Müller, 1990: 74; 1992: 166–167, figures

27–30.

Material examined. Turtle Bay, in C. prolifera with Jania sp. , 4 May 2000, one X.

Description. Small species, trunk length 1 mm, width 0.6 mm, obscurely segmented, body very finely granulate, short crurigers separated by less than half of their own diameter. Ocular tubercle truncated, subequal to abdomen; abdomen at a 90° angle. Proboscis twice as long as wide, just slightly upturned distally. Chelifores over-reaching the proboscis, long setae on palm, five fine denticulations on each finger. Uncommonly for the genus, there is a vestige of palps represented by tiny knobs at each side of the proboscis. Third segment of the ovigers with fine line at the base like a non-articulated joint, long setae on distal segments. Conspicuous genital spurs on second coxae of third and fourth pairs of legs in males, single distal spine on femur, tibiae and tarsus, cement glands three low cups mid-dorsal on femur; strong heel, five heel spines, long propodal lamina, main claw almost reaching the heel, tiny auxiliaries rising from the base of the main claw.

Distribution. This is a widely known species from the tropical Indo-Pacific and the Caribbean but in Australia only recorded from Townsville, Queensland.

Remarks. There is variation in the number of cement gland cups in this species. The species was described from specimens having two or three openings (Stock, 1954) but now the range is known from two to five (Müller, 1992; Child, 1998a). As for most of the species of Anoplodactylus , the absence of males in a collection makes identification at species level difficult. Anoplodactylus glandulifer can be distinguished by the combination of presence of tiny palp knobs, propodal lamina and multiple number of cement gland cups.