Ammothella appendiculata ( Dohrn, 1881 )

George, Zarish, Siddiqui, Ghazala, George, Nazish & Lucena, Rudá Amorim, 2020, A new species of Achelia (Pycnogonida: Ammotheidae) and first records of intertidal sea spiders found on Zoanthus (Cnidaria: Zoantharia) from Karachi Pakistan, Zootaxa 4821 (2), pp. 371-393 : 378

Ammothella appendiculata ( Dohrn, 1881)

( Figure 5 )

Ammothea appendiculata Dohrn, 1881: 152–155 , pls. VII, figs. l–5.

Material examined: ( CEMB, PYC– 015) 1♂, Sandspit, 12. viii.2015, on Zoanthus sansibaricus ; ( CEMB, PYC–016 ) 1♀, Sandspit, 01.xii.2014, on Zoanthus sansibaricus ; ( CEMB, PYC–017 ) 2♀ juvenile Sandspit, 28.ix.2015 on Zoanthus sansibaricus .

Remarks: This species has previously been reported from Buleji and Manora, Karachi ( Gul & Ghani 2012), on littoral algae. It is reported from Sandspit for the first time on the Zoanthus colonies. Two juveniles were also collected with under-developed, 6-articled ovigers. Chela teeth and palps are well-developed.

Ammothella appendiculata has wide morphological variation ( Stock 1955; Child 1992). Differences were observed between these specimens and the specimens described and illustrated by Döhrn (1881), Stock (1955) and Child (1992), such as the size of the ocular tubercle and the number of spines in the heel. Those specimens have a short ocular tubercle and four spines on the heel, while the present material has a slightly more-elongated ocular tubercle and three spines on the heel. An elongate ocular tubercle was reported by Stock (1955) and Müller & Krapp (2009), and three heel spines were described by Marcus (1940), Stock (1955), Müller & Krapp (2009), Lehman et al. (2014).

Distribution: Pakistan ( Gul & Ghani 2012), Gulf of Aqaba ( Stock 1957), Gulf of Naples ( Dohrn 1881), Hong Kong ( Bamber 1997), New Caledonia ( Bamber 2007b), Pacific Panamá ( Stock 1975), Mediterranean Sea ( Stock 1958), Atlantic tropical and temperate ( Müller & Krapp 2009).

Figures

FIGURE 5. Ammothella appendiculata (Dohrn, 1881), male: (A) dorsal view; (B) lateral view; (C) palp; (D) oviger; (E) 3rd leg. Scale bar: (A–B) 0.5 mm; (C–D) 0.1 mm; detail of D 0.04 mm; (E) 0.2 mm.