Anoplodactylus pectinus Hedgpeth, 1948

Arango, Claudia P., 2003, Sea spiders (Pycnogonida, Arthropoda) from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia: new species, new records and ecological annotations, Journal of Natural History 37 (22), pp. 2723-2772 : 2752-2753

Anoplodactylus pectinus Hedgpeth, 1948

(figure 10E) Anoplodactylus pectinus Hedgpeth, 1948: 234–236 , figure 34; Stock, 1955: 235, figure 11; 1975b:

1050, 1052, figure 41a; 1994: 64; Child, 1974: 500; 1979: 47(key), 58; 1982a: 372; 1988b:

20; 1992: 38 (table); 1996b: 552; 1998a: 295; Bamber, 1998: 30.

Material examined. Great Palm Island, Cannon Bay, reef flat, 2 m, in Sargassum sp. , 4 February 1999, one W with eggs.

Description. Trunk 0.96 mm long, 0.62 mm wide, fully segmented, fine segmentation lines, all body smooth and glabrous, crurigers separated by about their own diameter except between the third and fourth which is less than half, fourth pair is also smaller. Ocular tubercle slightly projecting forward, blunt tip, eyes on top, dark-pigmented. Abdomen long, curved upwards. Proboscis cylindrical constricted at mid-point. Chelifores long and very slender, as long as proboscis, small, delicate chelae in front of the oral surface. Ovigers typical of the genus, the third segment with the basal constriction, mucus ring placed right at the constriction holds the mass of eggs. Legs slender, short ventral setae all along the legs, a row of dorsal setae on tibiae, a single long distal spine on each femur and tibiae, short tarsus with ventral spinules, propodus cylindrical, with a dorsal long spine, the most distal heel spine the largest and pectinate, with six or seven denticulations, one smaller heel spine proximally. Claw about half the length of the propodus.

Distribution. This common shallow-water (0–34 m depth) pantropical species had not been recorded from Australia previously. It is known from many Indo-Pacific, western Atlantic and Caribbean localities.

Remarks. It is easily recognizable by the evident pectinate heel spine (figure 10E), otherwise it displays all basic features of mid-size species of the genus. This specimen from Great Palm Island in the GBR shows a distinctive green coloration even after preservation.