Colossendeis colossea Wilson, 1881

Bamber, Roger N, 2011, The male of Ascorhynchus constrictus Stock, 1997 (Arthropoda: Pycnogonida), with further new records of deep-sea pycnogonids from New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, Zootaxa 2787, pp. 55-67 : 61

Colossendeis colossea Wilson, 1881

Hedgpeth, 1948, 271–272; fig. 50b (literature). Bamber & Thurston, 1995, 144 (key),145; fig. 9 F. Turpaeva, 2006, 139 (literature). Staples, 2007, 87–88, figs; 2A–J, 7A, table 1 (literature). Bamber, 2010, 48–49; fig.87.

Material. Solomon Islands: 1 specimen (MNHN-IU-2007-4744), station CP2218, 07°50.3’S 157°34.6’E, XI 2004, depth 582–864 m, New Georgia. Bouchet, Warén & Samedi-IRD coll. Vanuatu: 1 specimen (MNHN-IU-2007- 4745), station CP2310, 14°45’87”S 167°06’56”E, 15 XI 2004, depth 864–927 m, Vanuatu, NE Santo, BOA0 Alis. 1 specimen (MNHN-IU-2007-4746), station CP2452, 15°59’60”S 166°41’30”E, 11 IX 2005, depth not recorded, Vanuatu, Gouyot Bougainville, BOA1 Alis. Both coll. S Samedi et al.

Remarks. This very large panoceanic species (adult body length about 25 mm) has been recorded before in the Melanesian region from New Caledonia and Vanuatu ( Stock, 1991; 1997) at depths from 844 to 2110 m (globally 420 to 5200 m). However, recently Staples (2007) described Colossendeis tasmanica from the east coast of Australia, a species showing many similarities to C. colossea , with which it may have been confused in the past, and recorded in the present material off the Solomon Islands (see below). It is therefore possible that some of Stock’s (loc. cit.) earlier records from this region may in fact be C. tasmanica .

Characteristically, amongst other differences tabulated by Staples (loc. cit.), the terminal oviger claw is fused in C. colossea (as in all the material listed above), but articulated in C. tasmanica .