Endeis pauciporosa Stock, 1970

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 : 119-121

Endeis pauciporosa Stock, 1970

Fig. 63

Endeis pauciporosa Stock 1970: 2 .

Material: 8.— 2 males, 2 juv. ( SMF 1530 ), shaded jetty piles; on hydroids and bryozoans, 1–3 m, 17.VI.1985 . 1 fem. (gravid) ( SMF 1531 ), shaded jetty piles, on Cnidoscyphus , 0–1 m, 17.X.1985 . 1 juv. ( SMF 1532 ), same locality, 24.XI.1985 .

Description of male: Slender, dorsal trunk outline a protracted oval, all segments separate. Crurigers glabrous, with 1–2 short slender dorsodistal spines and 1–3 short setae; crurigers as long as wide, separted by twice their diameter. First trunk segment with two flat projections at origin of proboscis. Ocular process 1.5 times as long as diameter, distal half acutely tipped. Eyes small and darkly pigmented. Abdomen tiny, barely longer than ocular process, distally rounded and bearing 2 short setae. Proboscis longer than the two anterior trunk segments, largely cylindrical but enlarged at mid-length, there with sparse short slender spines; distal region of proboscis broadly rounded, with numerous short setae.

Ovigers relatively robust, 7-articled; 2 nd and 4 th articles subequal and longest; fifth article barely shorter than fourth, rather strongly curved; sixth article of 2/3 length of fifth, robust, distal half with 2 short proximally directed spines on inner side; 7 th article the smallest, half as long as 6 th; inner margin of 7 th article with a small tubercle bearing a short central spine and four short distal spines.

Legs slender, sparsely setose; coxa 1 about as long as diameter, dorso-distally with 1–2 short spines and 1–3 short setae; coxa 1 about 3/4 length of coxa 3; coxa 2 about 1.8 times as long as coxa 1 and 3 together; femur and tibia 2 the longest articles, of similar length; femur as seen from above feebly curved forming an S, with a longer lateral spine in distal half and 7 cement gland pores in a file situated in the distal two thirds; tibia 2 1.2 times as long as tibia 1; tarsus as long as broad, ventrally and ventro-laterally with several short setae, ventrally with 2 slender and one robust spine; propodus feebly curved; heel only feebly developed, armed with 4 robust spines; sole feebly concave and armed with 8 rather robust short spines; main claw feebly curved and rather slender, half as long as propodus; auxiliary claw more slender and more-strongly curved than main claw, ¾ length of terminal claw.

Colouration of material in ethanol greenish yellow.

Measurements: Trunk length 3.50; width 1.21 (across 1 st crurigers); length of abdomen 0.50; length of proboscis 2.10. Lengths of articles of leg 3: coxa 1—0.38; coxa 2—1.60; coxa 3—0.50; femur 3.10; tibia 1— 2.60; tibia 2—3.13; tarus 0.24; propodus 1.04; main claw 0.52; auxiliary claw 0.38.

Female: like male apart of the sex-specific characters.

Remarks: Endeis pauciporosa is very closely related to Endeis meridionalis (Böhm, 1879) , which is distributed worldwide in tropical and subtropical latitudes. In the original description of Endeis pauciporosa Stock (1970c: 2) mentioned the few characters differentiating both species. E. pauciporosa is much less setose on the trunk, its second coxa is more slender (4 times as long as diameter) and shows a comparatively lower number of cement gland pores (6–7). In meridionalis the second coxa is 3 times as long as broad and the number (21–32) of cement gland pores is much higher.

Distribution: Until now the species was known from Eilat ( Israel) and Al Ghardaqa ( Egypt) in the Red Sea only. The find at Santa Marta considerably enlarges the species’ distribution, and constitutes the first record in the Atlantic Ocean.

Figures

FIGURE 63. Endeis pauciporosa Stock, 1970, male: A trunk lateral with oviger, B trunk dorsal, C oviger, D leg 3, E femur of leg 3, dorsal view. F propodus and tarsus of leg 3.