Austrodecus Hodgson, 1907

Staples, David A., 2019, Pycnogonids (Arthropoda, Pycnogonida) from the Southwest Indian Ridge, Zootaxa 4567 (3), pp. 401-449 : 419

Austrodecus Hodgson, 1907

Remarks. Child (1994b) provided a detailed historical summary of the family Austrodecidae and described several new species of the only two genera in the family, Austrodecus and Pantopipetta . Significantly, Child recognized discrepancies in the number of palp segments in these genera and Rhynchothorax (vide infra) which he attributed to the lateral process of the cephalon being counted incorrectly as the first palp segment. He observed that species of Pantopipetta which have seven or eight segmented palps should have one segment less. It is now apparent that the number of palp segment in many species of Austrodecus should be adjusted. It is also evident that a similar situation exists with the ovigers where in some cases the basal extension has been counted as the first segment.