Anoplodactylus tenuicorpus Child, 1991

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 : 2755

Anoplodactylus tenuicorpus Child, 1991

(figure 12)

Anoplodactylus attenuatus Child, 1988a: 12–14 , figure 5; 1988b: 56 (preoccupied Phoxichilidium attenuatum ).

Anoplodactylus tenuicorpus n. comb. Child, 1991: 142–143; Stock, 1994: 67.

Material examined. Rib Reef, slope, 8 m, 6 September 1998, one W with eggs. Pandora Reef, 3–6 m in rubble with algae, 15 July 1999, one X; 28 October 1999, one W; 19 April 2000, one W, two W with eggs, five X, one juvenile.

Description. Trunk length 2.10 mm, width 1.14 mm, segmentation lines very fine, body smooth, very elongated and slender shape, crurigers separated by almost six times their diameter. Ocular tubercle a low protuberance anterior on cephalon; proboscis short, straight, slightly constricted distally. Scape one-segmented, slender, with short spine distally, chelifores longer than proboscis, palm small, with few setae, immovable finger with four to five fine teeth. Ovigers six-segmented, typical of the genus. Legs very long and slender, femur and second tibia subequal, first tibia same length as coxae and tarsus, long spinule distally on femur and tibiae; cement glands five low cups dorsally on femur; propodus with no heel; three heel spines, larger pectinate, fine sole spines.

Distribution. This very slender species has been found at Aldabra Atoll, Indian Ocean, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Guam. This report and that from Guam, from 10 m, are the deepest reports of the species so far. Most of the records describe very similar reef habitats for this species.

Remarks. It is easily recognized by its slender shape. A similar species known in Australia is A. longiceps , which shares the presence of two cement gland cups, but the body of A. longiceps is not as elongate (figure 15). Anoplodactylus pectinus also has a pectinate heel spine but is a more robust and smaller species. Anoplodactylus exaggeratus Stock, 1994 is probably the most similar, it is known from Indonesia and differs mainly in bearing a single cement gland.