New records of Sea Spiders (Arthropoda: Pycnogonida) for continental Portugal and notes on species distribution

Patricia Esquete,Marcos Rubal,Jesús Troncoso,Puri Veiga

doi:10.1186/s41200-016-0025-6

Patricia Esquete, Marcos Rubal + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s41200-016-0025-6

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Abstract

A sampling effort carried out in the Northern coast of Portugal revealed the presence of two species of sea spiders that are recorded for the first time in Portugal: Anoplodactylus angulatus and Ammothella longioculata. While A. angulatus is widespread along the North East Atlantic coast, A. longioculata is recorded for the first time outside of the Mediterranean Sea. Eight species were recorded in this survey, increasing the pycnogonid species list of Portugal to twenty-four. A species list of the Pycnogonids of continental Portugal including references and distribution is provided.

Highlights

Pycnogonids or sea spiders are an exclusively marine group of arthropods that includes 1340 species (Bamber et al, 2015)
In this study we provide a complete list of Pycnogonida present along continental Portugal compiled from existing literature (Table 1)
Ammothella longioculata (Faraggiana, 1940) and Anoplodactylus angulatus (Dohrn, 1881) represent new records increasing the number of species from continental Portuguese waters to twenty-four (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Pycnogonids or sea spiders are an exclusively marine group of arthropods that includes 1340 species (Bamber et al, 2015). The first attempt to document pycnogonid records and studies of the Portuguese fauna was by Nogueira (1956) who listed 16 species (13 coastal, 3 abyssal).

Results

Conclusion