Achelia vulgaris (Costa, 1861)

Lehmann, Tobias, Hess, Martin & Melzer, Roland R., 2014, Common littoral pycnogonids of the Mediterranean Sea, Zoosystematics and Evolution 90 (2), pp. 163-224 : 164

Taxon classification Animalia Pantopoda Ammotheidae

Achelia vulgaris (Costa, 1861) Figures 2, 11, 12

Achelia franciscana (Dohrn, 1881)

Alcinous vulgaris Costa, 1861

Ammothea fransciscana Dohrn, 1881

Material.

ZSMA20071467: male; Bayuls-sur-Mer, France; 07.2004. ZSMA20071468: female; Giglio Island, Italy; 08.04.2005; 8-13 m; brown algae. ZSMA20071469: female; Giglio Island, Italy; 08.04.2005; 8-13 m; brown algae.

Remarks.

Adult males are differentiated by the character described by Dohrn (1881) and Bouvier (1923): three protuberances with spine on each side of coxa 2. But Dohrn notes that there also exist varieties: two protuberances on each side of coxa 2 or two protuberances on one and three protuberances on the other side of coxa 2.

Here, only coxa 2 of the first leg has three protuberances with spine on the one and two on the other side; the coxa 2 of the other legs has two protuberances with spine on each side (Fig. 11C, D). The other characters of the male, like lateral process not touching each other (Fig. 11B) correspond with the descriptions of Costa (1861), Dohrn (1881) and Bouvier (1923).