Endeis aff. meridionalis ( Böhm, 1879 )

Sabroux, Romain, Hassanin, Alexandre & Corbari, Laure, 2022, Sea spiders (Arthropoda: Pycnogonida) collected during the Madibenthos Expedition from Martinique shallow waters, European Journal of Taxonomy 851 (1), pp. 1-141 : 70-72

Endeis aff. meridionalis ( Böhm, 1879)

Fig. 17

Phoxichilus meridionalis Böhm, 1879: 189–191 , pl. 2 fig. 4.

Phoxichilus meridionalis – Schimkewitsch 1890: 20; 1891: 509–510; 1929: 186–188. — Dunlop et al. 2007: 57, fig. 40.

Endeis meridionalis – Calman 1923: 291–293, fig. 15. — Stock 1965: 30–31; 1968a: 59 (key); 1979: 27–28; 1982: 189; 1990: 231. — Fry & Hedgpeth 1969: 64, 66 (key). — Utinomi 1971: 327–328. — Arnaud 1973a: 959. — Clark 1973: 33, fig. 3a–d. — Daniel & Sen 1980: 165. — Müller 1989: 127; 1990e: 109; 1990c: 101. — Bamber 1992: 199; 2004: tab. 2. — Veena et al. 2008: tab. 1. — Sabroux et al. 2019b: 530–531, tab. 1, figs 3, 5.— Wang et al. 2021: 6.

non Phoxichilus meridionalis – Loman 1908: 78.

Type material

Endeis meridionalis ( Böhm, 1879) . Syntypes: ZMB _Pyc_6 and ZMB _Pyc_7 (not examined). Type localities: Red Sea?, west coast of Sinai Peninsula, Egypt and Singapore (see Dunlop et al. 2007).

Material examined

MARTINIQUE • 1 ♂; E of Pointe Ferré ; 14°27.8ʹ N, 60°47.8ʹ W; depth 35 m; 12 Sep. 2016; st. AD227; MNHN-IU-2016-839 • 1 ♂ ov., 1 ♀ gr., 2 juvs; Pointe du Vauclin ; 14°33.6ʹ N, 60°49.7ʹ W; depth 2 m; 12 Sep. 2016; st. AD230; MNHN-IU-2016-560 • 1 ♂; Rocher du Diamant ; 14°26.7ʹ N, 61°02.2ʹ W; depth 22 m; 22 Sep. 2016; st. AS 096; MNHN-IU-2016-1043/ MK411032 • 2 ♂♂; same collection data as for preceding; MNHN-IU-2016-1423 • 1 ♂; Passe du Brigot ; 14°33.8ʹ N, 60°47.6ʹ W; depth 30 m; 17 Sep. 2016; st. AR082; MNHN-IU-2016-1125 • 1 ♂ ov.; Le François ; 14°37ʹ N, 60°49.5ʹ W; depth 1 m; 17 Sep. 2016; st. AB134; MNHN-IU-2016-1142/ MK411062 • 1 juv.; Presqu’Île de la Caravelle ; 14°44.1ʹ N, 60°50.8ʹ W; depth 29 m; 18 Sep. 2016; st. AS 253; MNHN-IU-2016-1265/ MK411091 .

Remarks

This species was regarded as Endeis meridionalis in Sabroux et al. (2019b) despite the shorter distance between the lateral processes, and the absence of kinked femorae in the Martinique material. The specimens also resemble E. spinosa as drawn by Marcus (1940), but this species was represented in quite different fashions, with a variable shape of the proboscis, distance between the lateral processes, etc. ( Hedgpeth 1948; Child 1992b; Munilla & Soler-Membrives 2014). Since the original description provides little information, and because of the inherent difficulties in identifying species of Endeis , the status of this morphospecies remains doubtful; therefore, we refrain from describing it as new species. Most of the specimens were found on the Atlantic coast, although three were collected at Pointe Diamant on the Carribean coast.

Distribution

Mostly recorded from the Indian Ocean ( Somalia, Réunion, Mauritius (?), Madagascar, India, Malaysia, India, Western Australia) and the Red Sea; also reported in the Pacific ( Japan, Moorea, Fiji islands), in the Eastern Atlantic ( Cape Verde) and in the Caribbean ( Curaçao).

Depth range

0– 90 m.

Figures

Fig. 17. Endeis aff. meridionalis (Böhm, 1879), ♂, MNHN-IU-2016-1043. A. Body, dorsal view. B. Body, lateral view (same scale as A). C. Oviger. D. Last two oviger articles. E. Third leg.