Anoplodactylus evelinae Marcus, 1940

Lucena, Rudá Amorim & Christoffersen, Martin Lindsey, 2018, Anoplodactylus (Pycnogonida: Phoxichilidiidae) from Brazil, new records and two new species, Turkish Journal of Zoology 42 (4), pp. 372-388 : 377

Anoplodactylus evelinae Marcus, 1940

Anoplodactylus (Labidodactylus) evelinae : Stock, 1954.

Anoplodactylus evelinae Marcus, 1940: 55 , figure 4; Hedgpeth, 1948: 232, figure 31; Fage, 1949: 27-28, figure 3; Müller and Krapp, 2009: 93-94, figure 49.

Material examined: Bahia: ( UFPB.PYC–170) 1 ♂ and 1 juvenile , Praia de Apuã, intertidal, 17 Apr. 2015, coll. R.A . Lucena, L.M. Falkenberg and J. Prata . Alagoas: ( UFPB.PYC–128) 2 ♂ and 1 ♀ , Praia de Peroba, intertidal, 13 Jun. 2014, coll. R.A . Lucena, J. Prata and J.P. de Araújo .

Diagnosis: Body small. Trunk segments 3 and 4 fused. Cuticulum with small tubercles. Segments 1 and 2 with a bifurcate median-dorsal tubercle, near posterior border of segment. Proboscis robust, of similar size to segment 1, and with small ventral tubercles near median line. Abdomen small, with a rounded tubercle at base. Fingers with small teeth. Legs short and robust. All articles of legs with small median and dorsal tubercles. Cement gland opening onto femur by a median-dorsal pore. Propodus with 1 spine on heel. Main claw two-thirds length of propodus. Auxiliary claws strongly reduced.

Distribution: Brazil (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia and Alagoas), Colombia, Atlantic and Pacific Panama, Anguilla, Jamaica, Belize, Mexico, USA (Florida), Congo ( Marcus, 1940; Sawaya, 1949; Müller, 1993; Müller and Krapp, 2009).

Depth: Up to 30 m deep.

Remarks: The species is clearly distinguished from the remaining species of the genus for having some rare characters, otherwise commonly found in the genus Pycnogonum (Ström, 1762) : The short dorso-median tubercles on the trunk very rare or unique to this genus, abdomen inflated and extending horizontally from trunk, very short legs, with tibia as long as wide ( Stock, 1979; Child, 2004), and propodus with very pronounced heel having a robust spine ( Child, 1982b).

For Müller and Krapp (2009), A. evelinae is related to A. arescus du Bois-Reymond Marcus, 1959 and A. tarsalis Stock, 1968 , for having a compact structure with similar tarsus and propodus. They may be distinguished by the cement gland, which in A. evelinae does not have a tubular opening.

Here we record this species for the first time in the Brazilian State of Alagoas.