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Sea spiders (Arthropoda: Pycnogonida) from waters adjacent to the Nansei Islands of Japan

2007; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 41; Issue: 1-4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00222930601121783

1464-5262

Yoshie Takahashi, Matthew H. Dick, Shunsuke F. Mawatari,

Crustacean biology and ecology

About 160 species of pycnogonids have been reported from Japan. Among these, only 18 species have been reported from the extensive archipelago of the Nansei (southwest) Islands, even though this warm‐temperate to subtropical region should have a pycnogonid fauna as rich as or richer than that surrounding the Japanese main islands. We provide descriptions for five species of pycnogonids collected from depths of 52–334 m along the continental shelf adjacent to the Nansei Islands. Rhopalorhynchus tenuissimum (Haswell, 1884 Haswell, W. A. 1884. Pycnogonida of the Australian coast with descriptions of new species.. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 9: 1021–1033. Figures 54–57 [Google Scholar]) is the first record of this genus and species for Japan, and Pycnogonum tenue Slater, 1879 Slater, W. L. 1879. On a new genus of pycnogon and a variety of Pycnogonum littorale from Japan.. The Annals and Magazine of Natural History (Series 5), 3: 281–283. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar] is a new record for the Nansei Island region; we report some previously unrecognized taxonomic characters for these species. We describe as new species Endeis leviseminentia, Hedgpethia elongata, and Pycnogonum spatium.