Ammothella appendiculata (Dohrn, 1881)

Müller, Hans-Georg & Krapp, Franz, 2009, The pycnogonid fauna (Pycnogonida, Arthropoda) of the Tayrona National Park and adjoining areas on the Caribbean coast of Colombia 2319, Zootaxa 2319 (1), pp. 1-138 : 21-24

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.2319.1.1

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03E687F8-2953-FFA5-7ADC-13D9981EFE4D

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Ammothella appendiculata (Dohrn, 1881)
status

 

Ammothella appendiculata (Dohrn, 1881) View in CoL

Fig. 6 View FIGURE 6

Ammothea appendiculata Dohrn, 1881: 9 .

Ammothella appendiculata View in CoL ,—Stock 1975: 973, (literature). Child 1979: 9. Stock 1979: 8. Child 1982: 357. Stock 1986: 400. Arnaud 1987: 39.

Ammothella rugulosa View in CoL ,—Stock 1975: 972. Child 1979: 11. Stock 1979: 8. Child 1982: 358. Stock 1986: 400.

Material: 6.— 1 male (ov.), 3 juv. ( MNHN), Thalassia , 2 m, 1.VIII.1985 . 4 juv. ( SMF 1610 About SMF ), Thalassia , 10.IX.1985 . 11 males (10 ov.), 11 fem. (8 gravid), 18 juv. ( SMF 1611 About SMF ), Thalassia , 3 m, 9.X.1985 . 2 fem. (gravid), 4 juv. ( ZSM), Thalassia , 12.XII.1985 . 2 males (ov.), 3 fem. (2 gravid) ( ZFMK), Thalassia , 1–2 m, 13.I.1986 .

9.— 1 adult without legs ( SMF 1612 About SMF ), under stone blocks, 1–2 m, 4.II.1986 . 1 male, 1 fem., 1 adult lacking legs ( SMF 1613 About SMF ), coral rubble, 5–6 m, 14.III.1986 .

19.— 1 male ( USNM), Thalassia , 5 l of substratum, 0.5–4 m, 27.VI.1985 . 1 male (ov.), 2 juv. ( ZSM), Thalassia , 5 l of substratum, 0.5–4 m, 5.VII.1985 . 1 adult without legs, 6 juv. ( SMF 1614 About SMF ), Thalassia , 5 l of substratum, 0.5–4 m, 7.XII.1985 . 9 males (7 ov.), 2 fem. (gravid), 15 juv., 18 adults without legs ( SMF 1615 About SMF ), Thalassia , 5 l of substratum, 0.5–4 m, 12.II.1986 .

22.— 1 male (ov.) ( SMF 1616 About SMF ), on Halimeda , mesolittoral, 14.IV.1986 .

24.— 2 males (ov.), 4 juv. ( ZMA 3347), Thalassia with corallinaceans and Cnidoscyphus , 1–2 m, 9.VIII.1985. 1 male (ov.), 1 juv. ( SMF 1617), Thalassia with corallinaceans, 2 m, 4.IX.1985. 1 juv. ( SMF 1618), Thalassia , 0.5–1 m, 8.IX.1985. 4 males (2 ov.), 4 fem. (3 gravid), 19 juv. ( INVEMAR), Thalassia with corallinaceans, 1 m, 21.I.1986.

29.— 4 males (2 ov.), 7 fem. (5 gravid), 23 juv. ( SMF 1619 About SMF ), Thalassia , 1–2 m, 21.I.1986 .

30.— 5 males (4 ov.), 6 fem. (5 gravid), 11 juv. ( SMF 1620 About SMF ), Thalassia , 2 m, 29.V.1985 . 1 male (ov.), 1 fem. (gravid), 4 juv. ( SMF 1621 About SMF ), Thalassia , 6.VI.1985 . 1 male, 2 juv. ( SMF 1622 About SMF ), Thalassia , 19.VI.1985 . 5 males (1 ov.), 2 fem. (1 gravid), 22 juv. ( SMF 1623 About SMF ), Thalassia , 4.VII.1985 . 1 male (ov.), 1 fem. (gravid), 2 juv. ( SMF 1624 About SMF ), Thalassia , 1–2 m, 6.VIII.1985 . 1 male (ov.), 1 fem., 2 juv. ( SMF 1625 About SMF ), Thalassia , 0.5–2 m, 11.IX.1985 . 1 male (ov.), 3 juv. ( SMF 1626 About SMF ), Thalassia , 1–2 m, 4.X.1985 . 11 males (6 ov.), 4 fem. (3 gravid), 61 juv. ( SMF 1627 About SMF ), Thalassia , 2–3 m, 4.XII.1985 . 46 males (19 ov.), 36 fem. (24 gravid), 282 juv. ( SMF 1628 About SMF ), Thalassia , 1–2 m, 17.I.1986 . 23 males (17 ov.), 11 fem. (7 gravid), 90 juv. ( SMF 1629 About SMF ), Thalassia , 1–3 m, 24.I.1986 .

33.— 9 juv. ( SMF 1630 About SMF ), Thalassia , 0.5 m, 27.V.1985 . 2 juv. ( SMF 1631 About SMF ), Thalassia , 0–1 m, 5.VIII.1985 . 2 males (1 ov.), 27 juv. ( SMF 1632 About SMF ), Thalassia , 0.5 m, 20.XII.1985 . 3 males (1 ov.), 20 juv. ( SMF 1633 About SMF ), Thalassia , 17.I.1986 .

38.— 2 males, 2 fem. (gravid), 8 juv. ( SMF 1634 About SMF ), Thalassia , 0.5 m, 17.III.1986 .

39.— 1 fem. (gravid), 4 juv. ( SMF 1635 About SMF ), under stones, mesolittoral, 14.IV.1986 .

40.— 1 male ( SMF 1636 About SMF ), Thalassia , 1–3.5 m, 8.VIII.1985 .

41.— 2 juv. ( SMF 1637 About SMF ), Syringodium , 3 m, 20.XII.1985 .

43.— 16 males (8 ov.), 12 fem. (6 gravid), 11 juv. ( SMF 1638 About SMF ), Thalassia , 1–1.5 m, 25.II.1986 .

Description of male: Trunk slender, oval in dorsal view, completely segmented; crurigers separated by slightly more than their diameter. Ocular process 5–7 times as tall as its diameter, distally bearing distinctly pigmented eyes. Crurigers 1–4 each showing short dorso-distal club-shaped seta. Abdomen almost at right angles to trunk or directed straight backwards, with some simple or clavate setae; if abdomen directed backwards, about two thirds of its length project over the 4 th crurigers. Proboscis a protracted oval, about 3 times as long as its diameter, narrowest proximally.

Scape of cheliphores two-articled, 5 times as long as broad, distally enlarged; proximal article about 2/5 length of distal article; proximal article on its retro-lateral aspect with short clavate seta; distal article of scape with some simple and some clavate setae distributed irregularly; chela a mere stump without setae. Palp of 9 articles, 2 nd and 4 th articles longest; 2 nd article about 5.5 times as long as wide, 4 th article about 4.2 times as long as wide; articles 5–9 with several setae, mainly ventral and distal. Oviger of 10 articles, 2 nd, 4th and 5 th articles prolonged; 7 th article with long spine, articles 8–10 with pair of serrated spines. Legs relatively slender; coxa 1 of leg 1 bearing simple antero-lateral seta and two distal clavate setae; coxa 1 of legs 2–4 with simple seta prolaterally and single dorsal clavate seta; coxa 2 barely longer than coxa 3, with some dorsal clavate and some simple setae; femur and tibia 1 of about same length; tube of cement gland on dorso-distal aspect of femur, about 1/3 of femur length; femur, tibia 1 and tibia 2 with several simple and clavate setae in irregular distribution; tibia 1 and tibia 2 additionally with 2 slender spines on dorsal aspect; tarsus slightly longer than broad, with one dorso-distal and 2 ventro-distal setae; propodus slightly curved, without heel; sole with 3 robust spines in basal half and 6 finer spines in distal half; main claw about 2/5 of propodus length, feebly curved; auxiliary claw about 4/5 length of main claw, more-strongly curved.

Measurements: Trunk length 0.81; width 0.74 (across 2 nd crurigers); Length of abdomen 0.58; Length of proboscis 0.7; Length of cheliphore 0.57. Leg 3: coxa 1, 0.08; coxa 2, 0,34; coxa 3, 0.23; femur 0.64; tibia 1, 0.68; tibia 2, 0.61; tarsus 0.08; propodus 0.03; main claw 0.19; auxiliary claw 0.15.

Female: generally like male. Long spine on 7 th article of oviger absent, replaced by pair of serrated spines. Femur and coxa 2 of all legs more robust than in males.

Remarks: The height of the ocular process, the length of abdomen, and the relative length of the two articles of the cheliphore scape vary a bit. Mostly this last character was used to differentiate between A. appendiculata and A. rugulosa , which were considered for a long time as two very closely related species. In the meantime the view that A. rugulosa and A. appendiculata are conspecific prevails. Child (1982: 357) wrote: "I have no stronger criteria for keeping the species separate,...". Stock (1975a: 975) also doubts the status of A. rugulosa as an independent species. Neither morphology nor ecology in the material from Colombia gave any hint whatsoever to regard them as twin species. So we consider A. rugulosa here as a junior synonym of A. appendiculata .

Ammothella appendiculata avoids deeper water, and in the area researched was never encountered below 6 m depth. A predilection for seagrass is evident. Ovigerous males were found all year round with exception of months III and XI.

Distribution: The species is widely distributed in the tropical and temperate Atlantic as well as in the Mediterranean. A few records are known from the Red Sea (see Stock 1964a: 27), but only a single one from the Pacific coast of America is reported, from Panamá (Stock 1975a: 973).

MNHN

Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle

ZSM

Bavarian State Collection of Zoology

ZFMK

Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig

USNM

Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History

ZMA

Universiteit van Amsterdam, Zoologisch Museum

SMF

Forschungsinstitut und Natur-Museum Senckenberg

INVEMAR

Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas de Punta de Betin

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Pycnogonida

Order

Pantopoda

Family

Ammotheidae

Genus

Ammothella

Loc

Ammothella appendiculata (Dohrn, 1881)

Müller, Hans-Georg & Krapp, Franz 2009
2009
Loc

Ammothella appendiculata

Arnaud, F. 1987: 39
Stock, J. H. 1986: 400
Child, C. A. 1979: 9
Stock, J. H. 1979: 8
1979
Loc

Ammothella rugulosa

Stock, J. H. 1986: 400
Child, C. A. 1979: 11
Stock, J. H. 1979: 8
1979
Darwin Core Archive (for parent article) View in SIBiLS Plain XML RDF