Anoplodactylus (Pycnogonida: Phoxichilidiidae)from Brazil, new records and two new species

Abstract

IntroductionThe Brazilian littoral covers over 7300 km, reaching 8500 km when all the coastal contours are added (Silva, 1999;Ministério do Meio Ambiente, 2002). The coastline offers a large diversity of environments such as beaches, dunes, cliffs, estuaries, deltas, sandbanks, and islands (Pinheiro et al., 2008), as well as the only reef formation in the South Atlantic, which extends for 3000 km (Amaral and Jablonski, 2005). However, the marine invertebrate fauna remains insufficiently known in Brazil (Amaral and Jablonski, 2005). For some regions, sampling is simply nonexistent for a large number of taxa (Marques and Lamas, 2006). This applies particularly to the Pycnogonida.The study of the Pycnogonida in Brazil began in the 19th century with the expeditions "Challenger" (Hoek, 1881) and "Vettor Pisani" (Schimkewitsch, 1890). Despite these early beginnings, the study of Brazilian Pycnogonida was only continued in 1940 by Ernst Marcus, who published a catalogue of Pycnogonida from South America (Marcus, 1940). This remains, perhaps, the most important contribution for this region. Since the initial work by Marcus, several authors published on the fauna of Pycnogonida from Brazil. Between 1940 and 1970, at least 16 papers were published, mainly by Sawaya, Mello-Leitão, Corrêa, du Bois-Reymond Marcus, Zilberberg, and Zago. These papers recorded 65 species in total, belonging to 20 genera and 11 families (Lucena and Chistoffersen, 2018). This flow of papers led Stock (1992) to comment that the Brazilian littoral was well sampled for Pycnogonida. However, only seven papers deal with the pycnogonid fauna of northern and northeastern

Some Pycnogonida (Arthropoda: Chelicerata) from the "Paulo Young" Invertebrate Collection (CIPY) of the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB), Brazil

“…Five papers were published by us on pycnogonids, they include the description four new species, a new record for the Atlantic Ocean, another new record for Brazil, a new record for Singapore, and several range extensions. Most published records are new for northeastern Brazil (Lucena et al 2015, 2018b.…”

“…Most of this material was identified and processed for future publications. About a quarter of the pycnogonid specimens presently deposited in the CIPY has been object of scientific publications (see Lucena et al 2015, 2018b present paper) ( Table 1). Achelia Hodge, 1864 Achelia sawayai Marcus, 1940 Remarks: Apparently restricted to the Western Atlantic, Ammothella rugulosa presents considerable morphological variation, being frequently misidentified with Ammothella appendiculata (Dohrn, 1881) (Stock 1992a).…”

“…It is very similar to Anoplodacctylus californicus Hall, 1912, a species with a larger distribution and higher abundance in Brazilian waters. It differs mainly by the presence of a tubercule on the lateral processes of the male and by the presence of a cutting lamina in the distal third of the propodal sole (Marcus 1940;Lucena & Christoffersen 2018b).…”