Ammothella uniunguiculata ( Dohrn, 1881 )

Krapp, Franz, Kocak, Cengiz & Katagan, Tuncer, 2008, Pycnogonida (Arthropoda) from the eastern Mediterranean Sea with description of a new species of Anoplodactylus, Zootaxa 1686, pp. 57-68 : 60

Ammothella uniunguiculata ( Dohrn, 1881)

This species is most often encountered as immatures, so a peculiar reproduction mode seems possible. The only study available so far (Munilla León 1983, at Cala Bona, NE Spain) strongly suggests a univoltine life cycle with an onset of maturation in males between mid-May and the beginnning of July; so in the sevenmonth-period between the end of September and the beginnning of May immature individuals prevail. However, the species is still easily identified among all Mediterranean ammotheids by the lack of auxiliary claws. This may be one of the main reasons why so many authors have never given figures of mature males. So we thought it valuable to present an SEM photograph of such a male (fig. 2): The overall habitus is quite similar in both sexes, body and legs in the male are a slightly more spinose (as in some other ammotheids). For the first time in Mediterranean material the relative proportions of the leg articles are shown: all three coxae are subequal, the femur is the longest and largest article, followed by 1, tibia 2 is shorter still. The propodal heel often has two spines only. Fig. 2 b shows seven cuticular pores with their tiny valves; one of them is shown enlarged in fig. 2c.

Figures

FIGURE 2. SEM-photographs of an Ammothella uniunguiculata, male specimen. a) Dorsal view of trunk, b) region on dorsal face of fourth trunk segment, showing six cuticular pores with their valves inside, as well as a few forked setae, c) a single pore further enlarged, a forked seta encrusted with bacteria.