Anoplodactylus pectinus Hedgpeth

Anoplodactylus pectinus Hedgpeth, 1948: 234-236, fig. 34.

Material. Adult ♀ (ZSM-A- 20071607); Piedra del ahogado in Playa Cristal (Playa del muerto), Nenguangue, Nationalpark Tayrona, Santa Marta; from stone in coral rubble, 20 m, 13.10.2004.

Description (Fig. 16)

Living animal sand-coloured. Body slender (Fig. 16A,B). Trunk segments 1-3 separated by well visible borders (Fig. 16B). Segments 3 and 4 fused. Lateral projections of thorax smooth, deprived of additional structures (Fig. 16B). Legs thin, become thinner distally (Fig. 16A,F).

Eye tubercle of cylindrical shape, distally flattened. Two lateral sense organs on its distolateral sides. Apical sense organ absent (Fig. 16E). Eye pigmentation the strongest in the upper eye parts. Abdomen 3× as long as eye tubercle, directed upwards. 2 spines close to anus.

Chelifores with 2 articles (Fig. 16C,D). 1 st of these 2× as long as chelae. Both fingers of chelae slender, strongly curved, and equipped with small pointed teeth on inner sides (Fig. 16D). Some spines on outer sides of fingers.

Palps absent as is characteristic of this genus. Ovigera only in males, made of 6 articles.

Lateral projections very slender, of the same length as coxa 1 (Fig. 16B). The latter only slightly longer than wide. Coxa 2 1.5× as long as coxa 1 (Fig. 16F). Ventrodistally with median genital porus in the form of a small thickening. Coxa 3 of same length as coxa 1. Femur 4× as long as coxa 3. Femur more robust than other leg articles, with distal protrusion equipped with long slender spine (Fig. 16F). Tibiae of equal length. As with femur, a distal thin spine is inserted on tibia 1. Similar spine at} of the length of tibia 2. Tarsus as long as wide, with several ventral bristles and small spine (Fig. 16G). Propodus 4× as long as wide. Heel with 2 spines (Fig. 16G,H). Anterior spine comb-shaped and stronger than posterior spine (Fig. 16H,I)). Sole made of numerous small, slightly curved spines (Fig. 16H). Main claw not very robust, deprived of accessory claws (Fig. 16G).

Remarks. Anoplodactylus pectinus is a slender species that can be unequivocally determined using the comb-shaped spine on the heel (Child 1979). It seems closely related to the A. tenuicorpus -complex (Arango & Krapp 2007, Bartolino & Krapp 2007) from the Indo-Pacific. The species in this complex are much more slender and delicate than A. pectinus, do not have a heel and are also characterized by the multiple cup or pore shaped cement glands; A. pectinus has a single cribriform cement gland.

A. pectinus is distributed in the Atlantic Ocean from Mexiko to Panama (Child 1979) and from Madagascar and Batan Island in the Pacific (Child 1988). The first record from Colombia is that of Müller (1990 & in press), who found it at depths between 1 and 5 m, while the specimen studied here are from 20 m.