Ammothella sp.

Arango, Claudia P., 2003, Sea spiders (Pycnogonida, Arthropoda) from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia: new species, new records and ecological annotations, Journal of Natural History 37 (22), pp. 2723-2772 : 2731

Ammothella sp.

(figure 3)

Material examined. Turtle Bay, intertidal in Cladophora prolifera , 27 March 1997, 33 W, 28 X, 200 juveniles (coll. Otto); 5 October 1998, two X; 14 May 1999, three X, one juvenile, 21 adults. Orpheus Island, Pioneer Bay, shoreline amongst the red alga Galaxaura rugosa (Ellis and Solander) , 24 November 1998, two X, two juveniles. Pandora Reef, in washings of rubble with macroalgae Dictyota sp. and Laurencia sp. , 5 July 1999, one X, one juvenile? (damaged); 7 March 2000, two X, one juvenile (coll. Diaz-Pulido).

Description. Trunk 0.62 mm in length, 0.5 mm wide. Body ornamented with many conspicuous tubular and simple spines, anterior corners of cephalon with short articulated spines; crurigers separated by half their diameters or less, three tubular spines distally on the first pair, one or two on the other pairs. Ocular tubercle six and a half times longer than its distal diameter; proboscis with proximal and distal constrictions; abdomen long, armed with long and short spines. Scape twosegmented, second segment longer, both segments spinose. Palps nine-segmented, long ventro-distal setae on distal segments. Ovigers 10-segmented, seventh segment with two large setae carried laterally; formula 1:2:2:2. Legs slender, three tubular dorsal spines on first coxa, second coxa with three dorsomedian tubular spines, femur and tibiae with three to five tubular spines dorsally and few long pointed spines. Cement gland a long dorso-distal tube twice longer than the diameter of femur; three heel spines on propodus, six sole spines; main claw shorter than half the propodus, auxiliaries three-quarters length of the main claw. Females larger and with fewer spines on legs.

Distribution. Ammothella sp. had been found only at Rowes Bay. These records extend its distribution a few miles to the south of the Queensland coast, and off Townsville to nearby reef areas.

Remarks. The species is being described elsewhere based on material from Rowes Bay (Lee and Arango, submitted). The specimens reported here are smaller, more slender in appearance and with fewer, shorter spines on the legs, however, the proportion of legs and ovigers are the same, an illustration for this ‘slender form’ is provided. I consider there is not sufficient evidence yet to segregate them in two different species.